The Abyss
by Infinity Reasons
Summary: Not everything that's lost is forgotten. Memories and loyalties are shifting in the streets, and something is gnawing at the heart of ThunderClan. The time has come once more for the lost to be remembered.
1. Chapter 1

**ThunderClan**

Leader, Bramblestar ― huge brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Deputy, Lionblaze ― golden tabby tom with amber eyes (Mate, Icecloud, Kits, Leopardpaw, Dappledpaw and Sunpaw)

**Apprentice, Leopardpaw**

Medicine Cat, Jayfeather ― blind grey tabby tom with sightless blue eyes

Warriors

Brackenfur ― golden brown tabby tom with amber eyes (Mate, Sorreltail, Kits, Cinderheart and Poppyfrost)

Sorreltail ― tortoiseshell-and-white tabby she-cat with amber eyes (Mate, Brackenfur, Kits, Cinderheart and Poppyfrost)

**Apprentice, Dappledpaw**

Cloudtail ― long-haired white tom with blue eyes (Mate, Brightheart, Kit, Whitewing)

Brightheart ― scarred white she-cat with ginger patches and green eyes (Mate, Cloudtail, Kit, Whitewing)

Thornclaw ― golden brown tabby tom with amber eyes

**Apprentice, Molepaw**

Squirrelflight ― ginger she-cat with green eyes

Leafpool ― light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes, former medicine cat (Kits, Lionblaze and Jayfeather)

Spiderleg ― long limbed black tom with a brown underbelly and amber eyes (Kits, Toadstep and Rosepetal)

Birchfall ― light brown tabby tom with pale green eyes (Mate, Whitewing, Kits, Doveshine and Ivypool)

**Apprentice, Cherrypaw**

Whitewing ― white she-cat with green eyes (Mate, Birchfall, Kits, Doveshine and Ivypool)

Berrynose ― cream-coloured tom with brown eyes (Mate, Poppyfrost, Kits, Cherrykit and Molekit)

Hazeltail ― small grey-and-white she-cat with hazel eyes

Mousewhisker ― grey-and-white tom with brown eyes

**Apprentice, Sunpaw**

Cinderheart ― grey tabby she-cat with blue eyes

Foxleap ― reddish tabby tom with green eyes

Icecloud ― white she-cat with blue eyes (Mate, Lionblaze, Kits, Leopardpaw, Dappledpaw and Sunpaw)

Toadstep ― black-and-white tom with green eyes

Rosepetal ― dark cream she-cat with green eyes

Briarlight ― dark brown she-cat with amber eyes

Blossomfall ― tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with dark green eyes

Bumblestripe ― very pale grey tom with black stripes and amber eyes

Doveshine ― pale grey she-cat with blue eyes

Ivypool ― silver-and-white tabby she-cat with dark blue eyes

Apprentices

Leopardpaw ― handsome golden tabby tom with black spots, a white underbelly and chest and green eyes

Dappledpaw ― dappled brown, white and black tabby she-cat with a white chest, underbelly and paws and amber eyes

Sunpaw ― golden tabby she-cat with white dapples and amber eyes

Cherrypaw ― dark ginger she-cat with green eyes

Molepaw ― brown-and-cream tom with brown eyes

Queens

Daisy ― cream, long-furred she-cat with brown eyes (Kits, Berrynose, Hazeltail, Mousewhisker, Toadstep and Rosepetal)

Poppyfrost ― tortoiseshell she-cat with amber eyes (Mate, Berrynose, Kits, Cherrypaw, Molepaw and Tinykit)

Kits

Tinykit ― small black-and-white she-cat with dark green eyes

Elders

Purdy ― plump grey tabby tom with amber eyes

Millie ― grey striped tabby she-cat with blue eyes (Mate, Greystripe, Kits, Briarlight, Blossomfall and Bumblestripe)

Greystripe ― grey tom with amber eyes (Mate, Millie, Kits, Briarlight, Blossomfall and Bumblestripe)

Ferncloud ― pale grey she-cat with darker flecks and green eyes, former queen (Mate, Dustpelt, Kits, Spiderleg, Birchfall, Icecloud and Foxleap)

Dustpelt ― dark brown tabby tom with dusty brown eyes (Mate, Ferncloud, Kits, Spiderleg, Birchfall, Icecloud and Foxleap)

**Chapter 1**

_Thunder_

They had been going like this for days.

Padding down hard, icy mountain paths that tore the delicate pink flesh of their pads into pieces, thinking that they knew when they were going, when they hadn't a clue; ever since some of them had fallen into the abyss, it had never been the same.

Two moons ago, Eagle had slipped. Two moons ago, Ice had run to catch him. Two moons ago, Silver had run to save both of them. Two moons ago, they'd all fallen down into the dark, leering abyss below.

And now they were alone. Going in circles, completely and utterly alone, without the faintest clue where they were going. They hadn't eaten for seven sunrises; none of them knew how to catch anything on this deserted, sheer side of the mountain, and all they knew was to follow Silver ― _except _when she'd fallen into an abyss. Eagle, the only one who knew how to lead them properly, was gone. Ice, the best at planning and strategising, had followed him. And then Silver had gone too.

"Stop," Thunder commanded.

They were too tired to challenge his authority. But after that order, his mind went blank. What should he do? Order them to shelter? _But there was no shelter._ Tell them to hunt? _There was nothing to hunt_. Say to sleep? _There was nowhere to sleep_.

"We need to find shelter," he said quietly.

A brown-and-white tabby she-cat stalked up to him, her feathery tail swishing the snow behind her.

"There _is _no shelter," she snarled. "And who made _you_ leader?"

"I'm the oldest, Shell," Thunder replied tiredly; he had been acting as a leader for .

Shell glared at him. Shell, Thunder, and Snow were not actually Silver's kits, although she treated them like they were. They were several sunrises older than Silver's real kits ― Eagle, Blizzard, Sky, Petal and Ice ― and Thunder knew Shell hated the fact that he had been born before her. After all, he was only a few heartbeats older, but he was still older, and that was all that counted. Usually, it would be Eagle who'd be in charge if Silver wasn't there, being the eldest of her litter. Yet now the responsibilities of a leader rested on him, and even though Silver hinted it was in his blood, he didn't want to believe it. He was _not _a leader.

A silver tabby, her eyes a pale silvery colour, that wavered from silvery blue to silvery green in the light, stepped up beside Shell, and rested her tail on her shoulder.

"The Tribe of Rushing Water found shelter," she meowed. "So shall we."

Shell shrugged off her tail.

"No, it isn't that simple!" she yelled, glaring at Thunder and Petal. "Face it, Thunder, there _is _no shelter! I know that, you know that, everyone knows that!"

Petal took a step back, taking tiny, scrambling pawsteps, and shaking her head.

"No, no, no!" she whispered. "We're lost, aren't we? I'm going! I'm leaving you, all of you! You told us that you knew where we were going! You _lied _to me? I trusted you, trusted you as a _brother_, and you betrayed that trust? Do you even know how hard it was to accept you as one of us? You don't even belong here! You shouldn't be one of us, and you never were! You're the son of a twisted maniac, not the son of a noble, loyal warrior!"

And with that, she spun around, her fur fluffed up and her eyes flashing a dangerously dark and turbulent green as she loped down the steep hill. Thunder sighed as he looked at Petal, even though the others ― Shell, Sky, Blizzard and Snow ― stared after her in complete shock. But Thunder knew there was this side to Petal; earlier on, when they weren't on the barren wasteland, she'd caught an eagle, and he'd seen it in her eyes. The anger, the defiance they bore, and the challenge. So much like the look in Silver's eyes when she'd taught them how to hunt.

Silver. She'd know what to do. She'd know how to summon Petal back with gentle words, to coax her into the safety and warmth of a den. She'd know how to change her daughter's mind, because Petal _was _their mother. They thought the same, even looked almost exactly the same. Except her eyes; those eyes, so disturbing, yet so beautiful. Petal had the same rippling muscles under the silver tabby pelt, the same long, destructive black claws; and the same quick temper, quick to jump to conclusions, and quick to make decisions. And Petal had chosen her path, and there was nothing that Thunder could do to stop her. He knew Petal well, better than some of his littermates.

"Petal, come back!" Shell called, running after the fast disappearing form of her littermate; Petal had always been the one to calm her down when she was angry, or annoyed, the one that always stood by her no matter what.

She was like a sister to Shell.

_But not to me_, Thunder thought bitterly, _if I could have done _anything _differently to make her stay, I would have. She was my sister, even though she didn't consider me her brother. What will happen to us now? Ice, Eagle, Silver _and _Petal are gone, and I haven't a clue where I'm going. StarClan help me!_

Silver had told them about StarClan, when she was alive. She told stories about some of the warriors of StarClan, who had died nobly in battle. She told them how when they were dead, they would go to StarClan and live there in peace. _Is that where you are now, Silver? _he wondered, _are you looking down on us? Have I done the right thing? Please help me, mother. I love you._

"Thunder."

Thunder winced. It was Shell. She was going to berate him about how he should have made her stay, kept her here somehow, how he should have let _her _lead instead, then she wouldn't have left. How it was all his fault that she was gone. How he should have made her stay.

"It's not your fault."

The black tabby tom looked at her, astonished.

"What?" he asked.

"It's not your fault," Shell repeated. "These things happen. Petal thought it was her time to leave, so she did. She's going to have to fend for herself now, but we will do better together. I just hope she'll survive, and not follow Silver into the abyss."

Sky brushed past Shell and stared into his foster brother's amber eyes. Instead of saying anything, he just dipped his head, but his eyes never left Thunder's. Then he raised his head and nodded briskly.

"There is shelter," he said. "We just haven't looked hard enough."

Blizzard and Snow nodded in agreement. Thunder knew they didn't _actually _believe it, but they wanted to; they hadn't yet given up hope like Petal had.

"If it's just us now, we have to believe," Snow meowed. "We have to believe that somewhere, there is shelter, and somehow, we will find it."

Thunder realised how much trust they were putting in him, and he didn't like it. What if he failed? What if they were slowly picked off, one by one, by the wolves he'd heard howling at night? What if he fell, like Silver, and Ice, and Eagle? And what if they gave up, like Petal had? What would he do then? He knew he wasn't a leader, and he knew he wasn't _meant _to be a leader, either. That was Eagle's responsibility ― or Silver's.

"Thunder," Blizzard reminded him.

"Let's go," Thunder said decisively, marching ahead of the other cats, trying to give the effect that he was fearless and…leader like.

But even that guise couldn't deceive Snow, who knew him and his actions better than he knew them himself. The small, fluffy white she-cat slipped past the others and came to walk by him.

"You can't deceive me that easily," she meowed softly. "Next time, don't try twitching your tail so much ― you do that every time you're worried. You know, you can always talk to me."

Thunder tried to turn his grimace into a smile, but to no avail.

"You _can _talk to me," Snow said sharply. "And don't give me that,I-wish-I-could-talk-to-you-but-I-can't look because it doesn't work. You're going to end up talking to me, anyway."

Her brother rolled his eyes and padded ahead of her. That didn't keep her off his heels for long, though, as she soon bounced up behind him.

"Stop ignoring me!"

"Go away."

"No!"

"I mean it. Go away."

"I mean it too. No."

"Stop annoying me."

"You're annoying me."

"No I'm not! You won't leave me alone!"

"You won't stop talking to me!"

"Stop fighting," Sky interrupted, shouldering his way between Snow and Thunder. "If you two fight, we won't get anywhere. We need to find shelter, and we need to eat. We're already frozen, and the last thing we need is to be stuck in the middle of the snowstorm that is coming our way. We have to hurry. We don't have time for any of this. Snow, come with me. Thunder, lead the way."

Thunder blanched away from Sky's cutting words. He should be acting like a leader, not squabbling and bickering with his sisters. He wished for probably the thousandth time that he was like Eagle. Then everyone would trust his judgement, know that his words actually _meant _something; and they'd know that they were safe. Now, with him as leader…things weren't that clear.

**A/N: So, first chapter of the long awaited sequel. I gave you a good look at how Thunder feels about everything, and showed you a little bit of Shell's 'attitude' and Snow's unnerving ability to read Thunder's feelings. Next chapter up will be Leopardpaw. Who's he? Look in the allegiances, or wait for a surprise next chapter. Remember to review! A free Smudge plushie to everyone who does.**

**Queen Of The Pens**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_Leopardpaw_

It had been two moons since Firestar died. Two moons since his father was appointed deputy. A moon since he had been apprenticed. Seven moons since he was born. Eleven moons since the mysterious she-cat Silver had left.

Bramblestar's mate.

He often wondered what she was like. They told him she was clever, strong, beautiful ― and that she had a fiery temper that overshadowed most of her beauty and strength and intelligence. Greystripe said he didn't like her, but that was probably because Firestar originally named her Silverstream, at her request. Ferncloud said she could have been a great warrior, if she hadn't left. Leafpool spoke of her as ignorant and annoying. Brackenfur said she could prove her worth. Squirrelflight described her as a heart-stealer.

There were so many different opinions. Which one was right?

"Leopardpaw, are you even paying attention?" Lionblaze's voice cut through his thoughts.

Leopardpaw blinked open his green eyes. His father, his deputy, his mentor, was glaring at him from across the clearing. The apprentice was on the sandy floor of the training hollow, his claws unsheathed and dug into the ground. Sighing, he scrambled to his paws, shook himself and stared at his father.

"I'm ready," he meowed.

Lionblaze shook his head, but a smile still crept up on his face.

"Again," he instructed. "This time, try not to stop in the middle of the roll."

They were practising a strange battle move which Lionblaze had told him the name of but he really couldn't remember it. You had to roll forwards, and, using the momentum from the roll, spring off from the ground and land on your opponent. Confusing. But Leopardpaw was good at it.

He ducked his head away from Lionblaze's badly-aimed swipe (intentionally so; apparently that was the standard of fighting in WindClan) and rolled onto the floor. At the last minute, he bunched his muscles and sprung onto his father, knocking the golden tom to the floor. Lionblaze pretended to struggle and then, with the utmost ease, knocked his apprentice onto the floor.

"That was good," Lionblaze said. "You'll be ready for your first assessment soon. Hunting," he added sharply, quickly quenching the apprentice's excitement. "I've taught you well enough. I'm sure you'll perform."

"But Dappledpaw has the best hunter in the Clan as her mentor," Leopardpaw protested.

"And you have the best fighter," a voice purred.

It was his mother, Icecloud. She must have been looking for Lionblaze, as it was almost sunhigh and he was due for a patrol. He quickly shied away from her lick that he could tell was coming, even though he couldn't see her, and Icecloud let out a _mrrow _of amusement and shook her head.

"You're on the sunhigh patrol," she told Lionblaze. "Or did you forget?"

Lionblaze bristled.

"Of course I didn't forget," he replied.

"Sure you didn't, mousebrain," Icecloud said affectionately, cuffing him around the ear. "Come on. You need to eat something before you go. You too, Leopardpaw; you can ask Dappledpaw about her mentor's hunting tricks."

Leopardpaw rolled his eyes at his mother's jest. Everyone knew that he thought that fighting was more important than hunting; and the only reason why he had come up with the excuse was to avoid the assessment. Obviously, Icecloud thought it was important that he did both ― and that's why she was suggesting that he should talk to his sister. Not like he wanted to.

He padded after his parents, who were laughing and joking and teasing each other. He wanted to find some way out of the hunting assessment. _Maybe Dappledpaw would be able to suggest something_, he decided, and bounded past Icecloud and Lionblaze.

xXx

"Look, you're going to have to just do it," Dappledpaw purred in amusement, through a mouthful of vole. "Hunting isn't all that hard. You'll pick up a few tricks from Lionblaze, I assure you."

Leopardpaw eyed his sister cautiously, not sure whether she was joking or not. Deciding she wasn't, he sighed and shook his head.

"I've been training for a moon now," he replied. "I can't even catch a mouse when I want to."

"The other day ―"

"That was Lionblaze's!" Leopardpaw burst out.

An uncomfortable silence fell upon them, and they ate the rest of their meals, not looking at each other, but now and then occasionally stealing a glance at the other. This all ended when a cloud of dust and a loud 'hrumph' announced Sunpaw's arrival.

"'Hello Sunpaw, how nice to see you! How was training, Sunpaw? Why, yes, thank you Dappledpaw, it was great. Did _you _have a nice day? I had a lovely day, Sunpaw. Leopardpaw had a good one too'," Sunpaw meowed, pretending to have a conversation with Dappledpaw and Leopardpaw, who were eying her disbelievingly. "What?" she shrugged. "That's what I'd _like _to hear."

Leopardpaw rolled his eyes at Sunpaw's antics and clambered to his paws, shaking off the sand.

"Sorry, you missed sharing tongues with your littermates," Leopardpaw replied.

"What is it now, sharing tongues with your crushes?" Sunpaw said sarcastically.

Leopardpaw flicked his tail and nodded, fixing his eyes on Cherrypaw, who was laughing and chatting with Molepaw. Now it was Sunpaw's turn to roll her eyes.

"For StarClan's sake, Leopardpaw, she's only just become an apprentice," she tried to growl, but it sounded like she was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Says you about Molepaw," Leopardpaw answered shortly, and stalked off, leaving Dappledpaw in hysterics and Sunpaw looking utterly bemused.

xXx

"Hey, Cherrypaw, how was training?" Leopardpaw asked as casually as he could, seating himself down next to the tabby apprentice.

"It was good," Cherrypaw said briskly, shifting uncomfortably. "Uh…um Birchfall said I needed to improve my hunting. Do you suppose you could show me? I saw that vole you caught the other day! It was enormous!"

Leopardpaw's mouth went dry. This was his one chance. His one chance to impress Cherrypaw, and he knew he couldn't do it. He couldn't hunt; sure, he could lie, everyone could do that. But when it came to actually showing someone how to hunt? Impossible! There was only one thing to do.

"I have training now," he lied quickly. "But tomorrow, I promise I'll help you."

Cherrypaw nodded enthusiastically, smiling.

"Thanks, Leopardpaw, you're a great friend!" she said in her high-pitched, kit-like voice.

The golden tom smiled and rose to his feet, and then dashed towards the entrance, only to be shoved on either side by his two sisters. They, of course, would want to know all about it.

"Not in the mood," he growled.

Dappledpaw gave him a friendly shove, almost sending him keeling over.

"You're always in the mood," she said. "Now come on. Cough up."

"No."

Leopardpaw made move to get ahead of his sisters, but that wasn't very successful as they caught up with him quickly. This time, Sunpaw tried to catch the prey.

"I know you want to."

Her brother bristled and stopped in his tracks, turning to face her. His mouth curled into a snarl.

"No, I don't, Sunpaw. Just go away and stop being so annoying all the time!" he spat.

Sunpaw and Dappledpaw recoiled, an identical look of puzzlement on their faces. They backed away slowly at first, and then turned around and started to run, but not before Leopardpaw heard Sunpaw whisper,

"It didn't go very well, did it?"

Angrily, Leopardpaw stormed out of camp and into the forest, where he wouldn't have annoying sisters buzzing around him. But there was one more pressing matter at hand than his sisters. He was going to have to learn how to hunt in the space of a day.

**Author's Note: So, do you like it? What do you think of Leopardpaw? Like him? Hate him? Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_Petal_

Okay, bad move. She admitted it.

Now where was she supposed to go? She was alone on this icy wasteland; with no shelter in sight, no prey in sight…should she just walk? Yes, that sounded like something Silver would do.

Left or right? Straight ahead or back?

There were so many questions that had to go unanswered. She half-wished that Shell had come with her, to be someone to talk to, someone to accompany her on her journey down the mountainside. _No_, she said firmly, _I wouldn't have dragged Shell into this. Shell wanted to stay with her brother. That was understandable; I would have wanted to stay with Eagle, if he was there_.

She tossed her head, a thing she always did when she was distracted, or bored, or had nothing to do ― or, as in this case, she was making a life and death decision.

"What would Silver do?" she asked herself out loud; she was already starting to feel lonely.

_What _would _Silver do? _Petal realised she had no idea what her mother would do. _Would she turn left, or would she turn right? Would she stand here, waiting for a sign? Would she turn back, or would she head on? Would she just sit down, completely bemused? Or, would she head on, following a path that could go almost anywhere in these, wild, twisting mountains? _

Petal sighed. Her mother was brave, she knew, so Silver would probably head on, in any direction that suited her. In so many ways, she was like her mother; yet in so many _other _ways, she wasn't. Did it come from the father she'd never known? Maybe, but that didn't help her now. _Focus_, she told herself sharply, _otherwise this'll be the end for me. I'm stuck in the mountains in some StarClan forsaken place; I have absolutely no_ _idea where I'm going, and ― _she looked up at the thickening grey clouds above her _― I'm in the middle of a snowstorm that is going to hit at any moment. The worst thing that can happen is to be buried alive, at the best ― a whiteout. There are always whiteouts in these mountains. _

_I have to be brave, and choose away. Find somewhere to shelter before the storm hits, and then I'll be safe. At least, I think I will._

She closed her eyes tiredly, trying not to think of the listless wind that blew a flurry of snow into her face, and its dull, mournful howl that echoed over the mountains day and night, a wind that never stopped. Sometimes it grew, and sometimes it fell, but always, it was there, ever-present and always at the edge of one's conscious, whether they liked it or not. And always, a strange howling sound came with it, a little like the howls of the wolves she'd heard at night. Even wolves thought it was one of their own, and they howled their own reply, to be answered once more to the continuous noise of the chilling wind.

And then, a different noise; a loud screech, rising to challenge the wind, and Petal opened her eyes. Above her circled an enormous bird of prey, its huge wings stretched about its being, and its glaring amber eyes staring somewhere in the distance. And the funny thing about this eagle was that it was somewhat paler than the others she had seen ― and it was the first life she'd seen since she'd left her littermates. Was StarClan trying to tell her something?

Her eyes followed the eagle's flight, and she watched as it flew onwards and upwards, and then became nothing more than a tiny black speck in the grey, snow-bearing sky.

_Thank you, StarClan, _Petal let out a breath of relief, _thank you_.

Letting out a puff of breath that came out as steam, Petal padded onwards, and found, to her surprise, that the ground dropped sharply beneath her paws. This must be the way down the mountains! She bounded on quickly, snow flying off the ground, and skidded to a halt in disappointment.

She was a long way from the foot of the mountain. Yes, she was going the right way now, but no, she was no where near the bottom. She was going to have to trudge on for sunrises, until she reached the last stretches of the dreaded, snow-covered mountains that had been her home all her life.

"How perfect," she groaned. "Absolutely perfect."

Dully, she set paw after paw in front of her, making neat tracks that were quickly covered up by fresh snow. The snowstorm had begun.

xXx

Petal walked until she could walk no longer.

The snow had become too thick, and, like she had predicted, everything was white.

She could no longer tell the difference between the ground and the sky, as the heavy snow clouds were invisible in the white-washed sky. The thick snow didn't help, either. Occasionally she caught a flurry of movement from the falling snowflakes, but then everything was still, and she couldn't see anything again. The whole landscape, everything, was white. Finally, after standing, waiting and hoping, for a while, she flopped into the snow, which flew in all directions.

For the first time, she realised she was cold. The wind had increased dramatically, and it was now bone-chillingly cold, whilst the snow continued to fall heavier and heavier, making her as white as the snow beneath her. Her muscles ached with fatigue and cold, and they stiffened up. Her fur froze in silver clumps, and the wind bit at her face.

_I can't believe…can't believe I'm stuck out here, in this cold_, Petal thought, _I should have stayed with the others. If I die now, it's all my fault, all _my _fault! I should never have left them! Now they'll never know that I died out here, and they'll never see me again. They'll think I'd survived, like they thought Silver did. But things really aren't that simple. I'm going to die out here. I know it. I can feel it._

Suddenly, there was a screech, this time not in fearless supremacy of the wind ― instead, it was in terror.

Petal started to her paws quickly, shaking off the snow and looking up at the sky. Plummeting down quickly, with no control over what it was doing, was the eagle she'd seen earlier. Then, with a soft _thud! _the eagle landed before her, rapped in the snow. It looked up at her with pleading in its amber eyes, but the need to survive overruled any pity she ever had. Mercilessly, she moved in for the kill.

**Author's Note: I had about one review for last chapter *sniff*. And guess what? One hundred people viewed my story. Yes, that's right. **_**One hundred people**_**. One review. That isn't very good, is it? So I want you, yes, you, the you reading this page, not the other you, to review this chapter. I want more than five reviews this chapter! It doesn't take very long to click the very inviting link at the end of the page and tell the author you appreciate their writing. And that brings me to another subject. Do you feel like you are a member of the U.A.A.S? Or, the Under Appreciated Authors Society? I've decided to create a competition, where you enter your story, five stories per chapter, and I read it, and I tell the readers of this competition which story I recommend the most. So, what do you think? Would **_**you **_**submit your story to it? Would you read it? Tell me in your review. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

_Bramblestar_

"Hey!"

Bramblestar sighed, turned around, and saw two apprentices squabbling over a vole. It was Dappledpaw and Sunpaw, Lionblaze's two daughters, and they were having a spirited tussle by the fresh kill pile. He winced as Dappledpaw sent Sunpaw rolling off her, straight into the heaped up fresh kill pile, scattering the prey over the clearing. He ducked under a mouse that was sent flying and marched over towards the two apprentices.

"And what do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"Nothing!" Sunpaw replied quickly, skirting away from where the fresh kill pile had once been.

"You seem all too eager to make me believe that," Bramblestar meowed, giving Sunpaw a serious, almost chastising, look. "Where's your brother?"

"Oh, he went _out_," Dappledpaw replied, and then started giggling, as did Sunpaw.

"To learn how to hunt," Sunpaw managed to add through a fit of laughter.

Rolling his eyes, Bramblestar padded away from the two apprentices, and out of camp, intending to go and find Leopardpaw to sort out his sisters. Instead, his paws ended up taking him to the part of the lake by the ShadowClan border.

_Great concentration, _he thought sullenly to himself, but all the same sat down, curling his tail around his paws and looking out onto the glittering lake. It had nearly been twelve moons. Twelve moons since she had left with little to reassure him of her return than a few soft-spoken words. She'd said she'd be back in newleaf. It was now late newleaf, about a moon until greenleaf. He doubted her return in time for the new season.

"Trouble?"

The voice came from the ShadowClan border, and he bristled, unsheathing his claws and twisting around to look at who it came from. He relaxed when he saw it was only Tawnypelt.

The tawny she-cat stepped lightly into the stream, and Bramblestar let out a low, warning growl, and she looked at him inquisitively.

"We may be siblings, but we're from different Clans," he reminded her sternly, and walked up to the border. "We can talk from here."

Tawnypelt let out an exasperated sigh and shook herself off, showering Bramblestar with water. She sat down and stared at him, flicking her tail listlessly, her ear twitching to catch any distant sound.

"Is being a leader as fun as you imagined?" she inquired.

Bramblestar glared at her. His sister knew very well that while he had wanted to be deputy, he had never wanted to be a leader, and he had confided to her about that. There were also other things about being a leader that he had only ever told Silver; that he would, once again, be compared to his father if he fought any battles against rival Clans, or did something that even mildly hinted at him wanting to take over the forest.

"Bramblestar, are you listening?" Tawnypelt snapped, prodding him with a paw; then, quite suddenly, when he met her gaze, her eyes softened. "What is it?" she asked worriedly. "What's wrong?"

"Has ShadowClan ever forgiven you, as in really, truly, forgiven you, for who our father was?" he questioned.

Tawnypelt narrowed her eyes suddenly, and then shook her head, looking away.

"Tigerstar was probably one of the best things that happened to ShadowClan," she replied. "But he was also one of the worst. My Clan is divided on that matter; Blackstar and Russetfur, they strongly believe that Tigerstar was a good thing. Russetfur was a rogue's kit before she joined 'Rogue ShadowClan' who supported Brokenstar, so of course she'd want to support anyone Brokenstar supported. Blackstar ― well, you know what he's like. He was Brokenstar's deputy, for StarClan's sake! But he's dying, Bramblestar. Russetfur, she has moons left in her, but Blackstar doesn't. And once Blackstar's dead, even with Russetfur as their leader, I think the Clan will turn on me, and there will be no place in ShadowClan for a cat like me."

"ThunderClan has," Bramblestar said with a sigh, trying to ignore Tawnypelt's jealous look. "But I feel that if I declare war on a Clan, or do something aggressive in any way, the Clans will compare me to Tigerstar."

"Tigerstar's legacy is not a hard one to leave behind," Tawnypelt agreed carefully. "You need someone to talk to, don't you?"

"I have ―"

"Not just me, Bramblestar!" she cut him off. "You need Silver back. I know you do."

"No, I don't," Bramblestar hissed. "She left me; I don't need her running back to me after Shadow breaks up with her!"

He turned around and stalked away, slowly at first, and then breaking into a run, away from the ShadowClan border, leaving Tawnypelt staring into the mountains, a concerned glint in her pale green eyes.

"Please, StarClan," she breathed. "Help my brother."

xXx

"Forget anything that's happened in the past few moons," Lionblaze meowed, padding into Bramblestar's den whilst avidly talking to his brother, Jayfeather. "I think we have a problem."

The brown tabby tom kept his eyes closed, not knowing whether to open them or listen to their conversation for a while longer. He didn't have long to decide, though, for Lionblaze gave him a sharp kick that took the breath out of his lungs and made him breathe heavily. Sighing, he scrambled to his paws and looked at his medicine cat and his deputy.

"Jayfeather's had a dream," Lionblaze started, only stopping when Jayfeather sent a sightless glare in his direction.

"I can speak for myself, thank you very much," Jayfeather snapped. "I saw an avalanche. That was all. Nothing else happened, and I'm sure it's just an ordinary dream, not one from StarClan with prophecies and everything."

Bramblestar exchanged a look with Lionblaze, who nodded.

"Gather the senior warriors, and remember, don't ―"

"Squirrelflight is a senior warrior too, Bramblestar," he said sharply. "Just because you have a squabble with her, doesn't mean that she should have her privileges stripped away from her. She can offer good advice, even if you don't think you can trust her. She knows what to do and when to do it. I'm telling her to come."

Lionblaze slipped out of the den without even letting Bramblestar voice his protests. The brown tabby sighed and shook his head, and then rested it on his paws, waiting for her to say ―

"Forgiven me yet, Bramble_star_?" Squirrelflight said sweetly, glancing at the brown tom.

Bramblestar flicked his ear bad-temperedly at the ginger she-cat, choosing to ignore her with in every other way. His temper wasn't helped when she whispered loudly to Cloudtail, who wisely chose to ignore her,

"He's still is a kit inside!"

The white warrior breezed past Squirrelflight without even acknowledging her whispered comment, which made her furious. She had a fiery temper, Bramblestar knew, having experienced it more than on one occasion, and it wasn't good to get in her way when she was in a bad mood. Yet that wasn't the reason why Bramblestar was annoyed. It was Jayfeather's dream. Silver had come from the ice-capped mountains where it snowed all year round, whatever the weather, and whatever the season. Maybe it was a sign that she was returning? Or could it possibly mean she was dead, killed in an avalanche in a desperate attempt to find him once more? No. Silver was strong. She wouldn't lose her life in an avalanche, especially if she was determined not to.

Lionblaze coughed, causing Bramblestar to look at him inquiringly. He then realised that he should start the 'meeting' with his senior warriors.

"I'm sorry to have interrupted your day," he meowed, trying to block out Squirrelflight's rude comments. "But Jayfeather's had a dream."

The den filled with interested voices, all clamouring to speak over the top of one another and find out what it was. Jayfeather, on the other hand, looked bored and rather annoyed, his paws scuffing the ground and his sightless blue eyes glaring into the distance.

"It was an avalanche," Bramblestar went on. "Just an avalanche; and nothing else happened."

"Could it be that there _will _be an avalanche?" Brackenfur asked.

"Why would StarClan send us a sign this far in advance; after all, we have more than two seasons until leafbare?" Cloudtail shot back.

"Are you sure it's a sign from StarClan?" Sorreltail said interestedly.

"All medicine cat dreams have a meaning," Lionblaze answered.

"A sign?" Brightheart meowed.

"Well, obviously," Squirrelflight muttered crankily.

"Has it ever occurred to you that it might _not _be a sign?" Jayfeather snapped. "It's probably just a dream, nothing to worry about!"

"Jayfeather ―" Lionblaze started.

The grey tabby tom had already walked out of the den, leaving an awkward silence behind him. Bramblestar quickly got to his paws.

"Well, I guess this meeting's over," he said, nodding to Cloudtail and Brackenfur as they left discussing the best places to hunt.

He curled up in the corner, closing his eyes. _That meeting did more harm than help_, he thought. _I think it would have been better if Lionblaze had talked to his brother alone, and then maybe, just _maybe_, we'd have got something out of him. I think he was lying, though. I think there was something else about the dream that he was worried about, or unhappy about. I guess I'll never know, as it's Jayfeather I'm dealing with._

"So do you always do this, then? The mighty leader of ThunderClan, asleep in his den; such easy prey for other Clans to hunt."

**Author's Note: Cliffie! Love 'em! Don't you? *unenthusiastic clapping***

***sigh* No, obviously not. Whoever guesses who it is gets a One Horned One Eyed Flying Purple People Eater Plushie. Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. Bye!**

**Queen Of The Pens**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_Blizzard_

Blizzard closed his eyes against the icy wind.

"We've got to stop soon," Snow meowed, trying to keep her footing, being smaller and lighter than the rest. "I'm going to get blown away."

"Very funny," Shell growled.

"Seriously!" Snow snapped, glaring at Shell.

The two were sisters, and any onlooker would be able to tell, with their matching glares and quick tempers. Blizzard realised, with a faint sigh, that only he and Sky were left of Silver's true kits. But where were the others? Were Ice, and Eagle, and Petal okay? Were they even still alive?

"We have to stop now, Thunder," he said suddenly, stopping in his tracks.

Snow had fallen behind, struggling to keep herself on the ground. Thunder, Sky and Blizzard, who were all well-muscled and thick-furred, and Shell, who was very strong-willed and slightly more weighty than her sister, managed to force themselves against the wind. Snow, however, was using up great amounts of energy to take one pawstep.

Thunder glanced tiredly at his sister, a careworn look in his eyes, and nodded slowly. Being leader had already taken its toll on the black tabby tom.

"Blizzard," Snow gasped, settling down next to her brother. "Thanks."

Sky, Thunder and Shell lay down in the snow in front of them ― if it _was _snow, of course. As the snowstorm started to rage about them, the sky turned white, and blended with the snow. You couldn't tell one from the other.

And everything was silent for a while, as no one talked, just stared into the distance blandly, wondering when the cold and discomfort would be over. Still, the wind drove snow tirelessly against them, letting out a piercing, ever continuous whistle which hurt the delicate pink flesh of their ears. Blizzard flattened his ears against his head, hoping to block out the sound, but all it did was make his ears hurt more. He twitched his tail, letting it slide across the surface of the snow, following its path. Then something moved in the corner of his eye.

Through the heavy white fog that hung in the air, an indistinct grey, shadowy shape flickered in and out of existence. It looked vaguely like a cat, and perhaps it was. Could it be Silver? Had his mother returned? Excitedly, he shook off the snow and forced himself onto his paws, peering around for the shape. It was gone. He sat back down, disappointed.

"What was it?" Snow asked curiously, peering at him so that she could see properly through the heavy white air that hung around them.

Blizzard shook his head and sighed.

"Nothing," he answered. "I just thought I saw something."

Snow looked at him curiously but decided to say nothing, narrowing her bright blue eyes to slits against the falling snow.

Blizzard yawned sleepily, only to notice once again that he saw the shape. This time, instead of being behind him, it was in front of Thunder, and making its way towards the black tabby tom.

He was on his paws in an instant, taking a flying leap, which was hard amidst all the snow, and knocked his foster brother out of the way of the shadowy shape. Yet when he looked up, the shadow was nowhere to be seen.

"What was that for?" he asked, in a very Thunder-like way.

But there was something in his eyes that gave it away. Something that told Blizzard immediately that the cat beneath his paws wasn't his foster brother; a glitter, a murderous shine, which Thunder had never possessed, was held within them. And then Thunder narrowed his eyes to look like Snow's, yet different. He looked like he wanted to kill Blizzard.

"Get something to eat," he snarled.

Blizzard staggered back, astonished, as Thunder threw his brother off and hurled himself up.

"Go!" he hissed, unsheathing his claws.

The grey tom's gaze flickered back and forth, noticing that they were alone. Sky, Snow, and Shell were nowhere to be seen. _What happened? _Blizzard asked himself. _Did I do something?_

Something sharp dug into his fur, and he noticed that Thunder's claws had connected with skin, living five livid red claw marks down his side. Without a second thought, Blizzard fled.

xXx

Couldn't run. Vision clouding. Muscles aching.

Blood dripping out of wound. Incredibly cold. Too white to see. Breath running out.

He skidded to a stop, collapsing in the powder snow about him. The cut in his side stung, fogging up his vision and clouding his mind with nothing but pain. Had something been on Thunder's claws when he slashed at Blizzard? Had his foster brother poisoned him?

_No, no, Thunder would never do something like that! _

And all of a sudden, the pain cleared. How and why, Blizzard didn't know, but as he looked at his side, he noticed that the slashes were frozen over, numbing him to the pain that they caused.

He stumbled on blearily. He'd been separated from the cats he knew and loved, and he was now alone.

_Was this how Petal felt? _Blizzard thought. _Had something liked this happened to her, and then she'd left because he forced her too? Is my brother trying to kill us?_

It couldn't be possible. Thunder was a good, kind cat, who would never dream of committing such crimes, especially to his siblings. And what of Sky, and Shell, and Snow? Would they be safe? Only time would tell.

Was it Thunder who made Eagle slip? Was it Thunder who pushed Silver over the edge? Was it Thunder who dulled Petal's good judgement? Was it Thunder who, two moons ago, put them in this position? Was everything that ever went wrong Blizzard's foster brother's fault?

Maybe. He didn't know, and he didn't have the power to answer this question.

Something sharp jabbed into his paw, and he saw through the hazy mist that swirled around him that it was a loose stone, stuck into his now hardened black pads. Sighing, he lifted his paw and closed his teeth around the stone, tugging at the sharp grey pebble. He had to hop slightly to keep on his paws, and in doing so, his paws connected with the edge. Below him, there was a dizzying drop.

And that was when he lost his balance and fell.

Over the teetering edge, the stone between his teeth and his limbs flailing wildly, trying to prepare himself for what was to come. It was so far below him, the ground. He didn't want to believe this was happening, but he knew it was.

Falling, falling, falling…

_Silver and Brook were padding behind him, chattering about some nonsense thing that old cats talk about. Something about the past wars the Tribe had had ― nothing that really interested him. A mouse darted past and he pounced on it, catching its skinning little tail in his paws and biting down hard on its neck. Silver glanced at him._

"_Good work," she praised in a slightly arrogant way, like she always did; in a way that sounded like she could do better than that, but wasn't going to say._

_Blizzard grinned happily, kicking snow over the mouse._

"_Don't do that!" Silver meowed sharply. "Wait for a hawk or an eagle to come."_

_The grey tom tipped his head to one side questioningly. But wouldn't the bird steal his mouse?_

"_Then you catch the eagle," Brook interposed gently, throwing a warning look at Silver, who remained silent and still, yet unchanged. "Bite its neck. That's where they least expect the attack ― you see, most cats would aim for the talons. But we in the mountains don't, we use our powerful back legs to kill the bird; prepare to jump, spring, twist, bite, back down. That's the way it goes."_

_Blizzard nodded, thankful that Brook was here. Unlike Silver, she was an actual prey-hunter, used to training young to-be's. He was little over three moons old, but eager to learn._

_He waited for the hawk to come, but when it didn't he dusted off his mouse, put it down again and moved away a bit and sitting down where he was._

"_So when are you returning?" Brook whispered to Silver, not noticing that Blizzard was there._

"_I…I don't know. When the kits are old enough. I promised Brambleclaw I'd be back by newleaf," Silver answered._

_Blizzard twitched his ear interestedly. Who was Brambleclaw? Where was Silver going? Why was she taking them with her?_

"_Newleaf?" Brook sounded surprised. "Isn't that a long time away?"_

"_I know!" Silver said angrily, obviously a little frustrated. "Back then, I didn't know that I would be faster. I think they'll be ready soon."_

"_I know they'll be ready soon," Brook said warmly. "They're fast learners, just like their mother."_

"_Mm," Silver agreed, not actually knowing what she was agreeing to because she hadn't been listening._

"_Who's Brambleclaw?" Blizzard asked curiously._

_Silver swung her head round to face Blizzard, an accusing look in her blue eyes. Then she sighed._

"_Brambleclaw is your father," she said heavily._

"_Wh―"_

"_Hawk!" Silver interrupted him._

_Blizzard turned round and jumped, landing by the hawk's talons just as it flew past. It flew onwards, and he pounced on it, not noticing the fall that lay below him. But Silver and Brook did, and they were pulling him away from it in a heartbeat, leaving the hawk to fly free._

"_Watch where you're going," Silver said archly, flicking her ear. "He'll need something for shock," she added to Brook. "Let's go see Stoneteller."  
Brook nodded._

"_Good idea."_

Blizzard's eyes flew open as his paws hit the ground with a _thud! _― he'd survived the fall, although his legs hurt a little, and his eyes were dry from the beating wind and the constant snow. He looked at his surroundings, at a sea of white. And then ―

"Blizzard?"

**Author's Note: I realised last chapter was bad, as in really bad, after I posted it, 'cause I read it through again, so that's why I gave you this chapter to compensate. I'm sorry if you never forgive me because of that cliffie just then, but it was essential. You won't know who said that until a few chapters on (five or so, maybe more), because otherwise it'd be very boring for the rest of the story. Now let's all celebrate the fifth chapter by giving me reviews. I know that I only updated yesterday, but I got one review from the nine people that viewed it. Review. Please. It doesn't take that much time. I need more motivation to write! I really want five reviews this chapter! *puppy dog eyes* Oh yes, and I want to thank Spottedwind19 for being the only reviewer for that chapter, so read her stories. *stares at everyone threateningly***

**Queen Of The Pens**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_Leopardpaw_

Sure, this was embarrassing. What wasn't?

"What motivated you to do this?" Lionblaze asked him, eying him curiously.

"Nothing," Leopardpaw said quickly, shuffling his paws, hating how his pelt was burning with embarrassment.

He was sure Lionblaze could see it, but luckily the golden tom decided to make no further comment, and instead focused his attention on hunting. First, he looked around, his mouth open slightly so he could catch any scents that the wind carried. Then his eyes fixed on something scuffling in the leaf litter, its furry brown tail just visible, but so camouflaged with the leaves around it that Leopardpaw wouldn't have noticed it if he couldn't smell it. Lionblaze twitched his ear to get his son's attention, stepping lightly to one side in a perfect hunter's crouch, so that Leopardpaw could try and catch it.

The apprentice crouched down, licking his lips. This couldn't be much harder than fighting, could it? _No_, he corrected himself, _this _is _fighting. You're fighting to get the prey to feed your Clan. If I think of it as fighting, then I should be good at it, right? So, the mouse is my enemy, but I only want to do minimal damage because even though they're my enemy they're my friend, so I don't want to hurt them badly. Okay, that works. Now you have to try and show your leader that you're loyal by fighting the supposed enemy because otherwise I might be banished. The mouse is my friend but my enemy at the same time._

_Leap!_

Leopardpaw had no idea where that instinct came from, but he stopped slinking forward and jumped, landing neatly on the mouse and quickly going in for the kill.

_That wasn't minimal damage_, a little voice in his head reminded him. _Who cares_, he told himself, and stood up proudly, looking at his father.

Lionblaze was giving him a strange look.

"That was a fluke," he meowed.

"Was not!" Leopardpaw replied heatedly.

"Try again, then," Lionblaze instructed. "This time, you find the prey."

Leopardpaw opened his mouth and then shut it again. That probably _was _a fluke. He wouldn't be able to do that again, even if he really tried.

He flicked his ear irritably. _One chance_, he thought, frustrated, _one chance to prove myself to Cherrypaw._

_I'll take it_.

Lionblaze coughed, bringing Leopardpaw out of his thoughts. The golden apprentice unsheathed his claws and dug them into the ground, and then tasted the air. Nothing…wait, squirrel! Yes, up that tree, there it was! Coming down to the ground with a nut, the bushy tailed red squirrel was unsuspecting of the young cat that lurked in the undergrowth. It looked around briefly, chattered in that nonsensical way that squirrels do, and scrambled onto the ground, giving itself a short burst of speed as it hit the ground. Then it went back to its ordinary, bustling pace, burying its nut for leaffall, and then waddling slowly back to the tree.

It survived the journey there. It didn't make it back again.

Leopardpaw pounced on the innocent red squirrel as the wind changed, burying its teeth in the terrified animal's neck. It squealed once and then lay still, and the apprentice looked proudly and his mentor.

"Well done," Lionblaze said shortly. "Get some rest.

And then he disappeared. But Leopardpaw was too busy basking in his own praise that he didn't notice his mentor's short temper.

xXx

Leopardpaw was grooming himself by the fresh kill pile when Dappledpaw sidled up, a mischievous grin on her face.

"How'd you manage to do it?" she grinned, looking as though she was about to have hysterics.

He raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"What do you mean?" he asked warily. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"One question at a time," she gloated. "You _know _what I mean."

"Look, if you're here to bug me about teaching Cherrypaw ―" Leopardpaw stopped, horrified, when he saw the look on his sister's face. "You didn't know about that, did you?"

Dappledpaw giggled and shook her head.

"Seriously, Dappledpaw, don't tell anyone. I _mean _it," to emphasise his point, the golden tabby apprentice unsheathed his claws, and his sister backed away.

"Okay," she answered. "I promise you, not a word."

She ran away quickly, probably to tell Sunpaw, but that was obvious. She was always going to tell Sunpaw, even if she promised not to.

He gave his fur one final lick, examined the sharpness of his claws, and half-skipped, half-walked towards the entrance, looking around for the mottled red apprentice.

"Cherrypaw!" he called.

Where was she? He hadn't seen her all day.

He was looking around the camp when a blur of movement caught his eye, and before he knew it, the red-brown streak was on top of him. With a playful growl, Leopardpaw pushed the light-weight apprentice off himself and laughed.

"You'll need to do a lot better than that," he chuckled, looking at Cherrypaw with amusement in his eyes.

When the mottled apprentice appeared disheartened, he hurriedly changed the subject.

"That's only to beat me, though," he added hastily. "WindClan warriors wouldn't stand a chance. Now let's go."

Cherrypaw looked pleased and bounced after him, finding pleasure in a leaf that fluttered down in front of her. She batted at the leaf and became bemused when it landed on her nose. She narrowed her eyes to try and see it, but, failing that, she shook her head and pounced on it before it hit the ground, not noticing Leopardpaw looking on with something very similar to amusement in his eyes.

The apprentice's green eyes went round and she shuffled her paws in embarrassment, finding something very interesting between her two paws.

"That was a good catch," Leopardpaw said briskly, not knowing what else to say.

He himself was slightly embarrassed, as he had wished that he could play with a leaf with the same kit-like interest that Cherrypaw had displayed. His mind was too full of things ― especially his dream last night.

Before long they were at the Training Hollow, and Leopardpaw was demonstrating a perfect hunter's crouch (although one must admit it was a bit lop-sided), and correcting Cherrypaw's.

"Learning how to mentor, are we, young Leopardpaw?"

Birchfall was sitting on a rock, his tail around his paws, looking on at his apprentice's training interestedly.

"I heard you talking to her yesterday," he explained. "It's a very good thing to do. Now I think about it, I wish I'd done it myself. Go ahead ― pretend I'm not here."

Leopardpaw nodded.

"Okay, this is how you do it…" he started.

**Author's Note: Four reviews. Yeah, that's quite good. :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Let's try and beat this next time, yes? Okay, good! I'll update soon. I'm in the process (as in right now) of writing the seventh chapter, which will focus on Petal! Ha ha, spoiler. But you'll know anyway!**

**Okay, so let's work on reviewing. That's all. Love you guys! **

**Bye!**

**Queen Of The Pens**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_Petal_

The wind gradually died down, the snow stopped coming, and the sky cleared of the ominous grey clouds that had loomed in it for hours. The sheer mountainside was flat except for the parts where it was covered in tall feathery drifts which had floated into place during the snowstorm. Everything was still as a soft breeze blew across the mountain's face, and down into the sheer drop below. Or was that…?

One of the snow drifts shifted, and a snow-covered silver she-cat leapt out, shaking off a large portion of the snow, yet it still dusted her fur in a very elegant way. Her eyes were blue, yet when she turned they shimmered a silvery colour, in an unnerving way.

"Now that wasn't too bad, was it?" she asked herself, glancing at the bland landscape around her. "Yes, actually, it was," she said, answering her own question.

Her paws were slowly sinking deeper into the snow and she stepped lightly out of its way, covering her pelt with licks to try and warm herself up, but to no avail. She just sunk back down into the snow, and, growling, she gave up, and continued to pad on down the mountain, peering into the depths that lay below her. Was that…? Had she really come that far?

Yet even though excitement racked every corner of her mind, exhaustion washed her body, and she couldn't go any faster than the speed she was walking at now. She left deep tracks in the snow, each one clear and defined.

Then her claw caught on something and she slipped, letting out a shrill yowl before she slid the rest of the way down the mountain, onto the treacherous rocks below.

xXx

A shrill yowl echoed through the air, and the young ginger tom was on his paws in an instant. He was surprised to find that Amarthy was already standing, looking in the direction of the huge, snow-capped mountains with a queer look in his eyes.

"Just roadkill," Dimitri snorted.

Amarthy glared at him, and then stalked forwards wordlessly, leaving Dimitri to catch up. The ginger tom hurried to catch up with the grey-and-white tabby, and was panting by the time he caught up ― but he still had to trot to keep up with Amarthy. He frowned. Usually the older tom didn't walk this fast.

There was definitely something strange about Amarthy. Something strange that had pulled him to the large grey tabby, that had made him leave his housefolk. Something strange that had made him travel with Amarthy all the way to the mountains, and not even question the older cat's will. Something that, even when his mind wanted to turn back, made him stay on this path, a force the pulled his body into following. If the choice had been his, he'd have turned back long ago. But the choice wasn't his, Dimitri realised. It was those strange cats that visited him. They were sparkly, like one of the housefolk kits he had lived with. In their eyes there were wisdom and depth, and they were surrounded by a wreathing smoke, that shimmered and wavered in and out of existence. There was usually just one of them, a silver tabby, but recently she had been joined by a fiery tom. And the only words they ever spoke where whispered in a hushed voice, almost so soft that Dimitri could never hear them. Yet as he'd had the dream so often, he'd deciphered their senseless whisperings into words.

"_Stay on the path…" _they would whisper. "_Stay on the path…"_

Not a word more.

"Dimitri!" Amarthy yelled.

The ginger tom noticed he'd fallen back and raced to catch up with Amarthy, who simply flicked his tail to get the younger cat to appreciate the view before them.

The mountains rose up in all their magnificence, touched pink by the oncoming sunset. Their sheer sides were beautiful yet deadly, and Dimitri suddenly felt the urge to touch the mountain, feel its strength and beauty under his paw.

He raced across the rocky ground, heedless as his paws got scratched and scraped by the jutting rocks. The mountain was so far away, but he was going to touch it, he promised himself that much. He'd always wanted to live in the mountains that had just been large blue hills in the distance from his nest.

An icy breeze swept across the bleak, windswept landscape that lay before him, and he shivered. He wasn't used to the intense cold that the mountains seemed to radiate. Tucking his head down in front of himself, he hunched his shoulders and padded forwards again, trying to ignore the stinging pain as the rocks cut his delicate pink pads into shreds.

His paw touched something soft and warm, and he instinctively set his paw down instead of walking forwards.

It all happened in a blur. She leapt up, her eyes on fire and her claws a blur of movement. Somehow, he was on the ground in a matter of seconds, cut, and scraped, and bruised all over. The silver she-cat took one glance down at him, sheathed her claws and sneered,

"Kittypet," as if it was an insult.

Dimitri didn't know what the word meant, but it _must _be something rude, judging by the way she said it.

He didn't like being insulted, and he would have usually made mincemeat out of the cat that had insulted him; but this was no soft cat that lived with their housefolk, used to living an easy life. This was a tough, hardened mountain cat, used to raging blizzards and bone-chilling winds, who had had a hard life.

And that was when it struck him ― her silvery pelt looked familiar, a little too familiar. She must be the cat from his dream! But then she opened her eyes and looked at him, and they were green. He let out a sigh of disappointment.

Petal frowned. The ginger tom beneath her could be no less than a moon or so younger than her. He was a kittypet, she could tell, by his bleeding pads, his incredibly soft fur, and fine, delicate breeding; for example, his paws were small and neat, as were his ears and muzzle. The way he had shivered against the wind had told her more of his story ― he lived in one of the twoleg nests that were set away in the distance, not in one of the closer ones. The kittypets that lived in those houses (if there were any) would have learnt to ignore the wind, like she had. Well, most of them, at least.

"I-I-I h-have backup," the tom stuttered, gesturing with his tail to an almost invisible grey-and-white tabby tom.

Petal cursed. She knew she'd missed something ― but she didn't let her annoyance show. Instead, she smiled. She smiled in a way that her mother had taught her, a cold yet beautiful smile that struck fear into the hearts of all who saw it.

"Oh, I assure you, he won't hear," she meowed coolly, even though, deep down, she was terrified.

To show she meant it, she unsheathed her claws and held one at his fluffy ginger neck, pressing down ever so slightly so it didn't puncture, yet he could feel it.

Dimitri was surprised to see that she was only a little older than himself, yet knew how to handle herself and strike terror in his heart. His bluff hadn't worked. Amarthy was half-deaf ― he wouldn't have been able to hear Dimitri's call even if he tried to.

That was when Dimitri noticed Amarthy creeping up on the silver tabby from behind. He made a '_be quiet!' _motion to Dimitri with his tail, flicking it over his mouth and then glaring at the younger tom, like he often did when he was hunting.

The young ginger tom blinked innocently at the silver she-cat, but she suddenly spun around as Amarthy leapt. He had stepped on some tussock grass, something the quite deaf cat wouldn't have been able to hear.

"StarClan save me!" she screeched, ducking out of the way of Amarthy's leap and rolling to one side.

Then Amarthy did something strange. He quelled his leap, and once he landed staggered back, his eyes stretched so wide with a look of shock and almost horror on his face that made him almost completely unrecognizable.

"Did…did you just say that?" he asked, astonished.

"'StarClan save me!'?" she said snidely. "Yes, I did. Why?"

"Have you come to take me back?" Amarthy whispered hoarsely.

"Take you back where?" she snapped.

The huge grey-and-white tom visibly relaxed.

"To RiverClan," he answered.

"RiverClan?" Dimitri was puzzled. "What in Heaven's name are you talking about?"

The silver she-cat just glared at him, and that shut him up quickly. He'd noticed a while ago that her eyes changed colour depending on the light, so they were changing colour as she moved her head around to glare at him. He shivered. That scared him.

"So you're a RiverClan cat," she smiled faintly, playing with the tussock grass. "Perhaps _you _can help me."

"Only if you help me," Amarthy replied quickly with his eyes narrowed.

"Oh?" she shot back. "Tell me your name."

The grey-and-white tabby tom hesitated, just like he had when Dimitri had first met him. _What was RiverClan? Had Amarthy been lying to him? Was Amarthy even his real name? And, most of all, who was this strange she-cat that was sitting, talking to the grey tom that he had grown close to over the past few moons, as if they were old friends…_here he paused…_or old enemies._

"Amarthy," Amarthy clarified.

The silver she-cat raised her eyebrow sceptically, and he sighed.

"Fine, fine," he meowed. "There's no fooling you, is there?" he didn't wait for her to answer his question, and obviously, she didn't expect to. "My name is Galestorm."

"_What_?" Dimitri cried, rounding on Amarthy. "Are you saying that you lied to me?"

As he confronted Amarthy, the silver she-cat turned away, her face twisted up in pain and her claws scraping the rock.

"Please," she growled. "Stop."

Dimitri turned towards her.

"And you?" he snarled. "Do you know him?"

She blinked, surprised, and then laughed.

"Me, know him?" she laughed. "Of course we don't know each other, you mouse-brained fool! We're both warriors, though. _Clan _warriors," she added sternly, shooting a glance at Amarthy ― or Galestorm, whatever Dimitri was meant to call him. "My name's Gladewhisper. I'm a warrior of ThunderClan, daughter of Brambleclaw."

"Bramble_star_," Amarthy, or Galestorm, corrected her.

"He's leader now, huh?" she asked. "I spent time in the mountains…on Clan business."

The grey-and-white tom's eyes flickered over her, as if assessing whether she was lying or not. He seemed to assume she was telling the truth, because he nodded slowly.

"I had a mate," he started. "She was called Falconstrike. But the only problem was that she was in WindClan, and I was in RiverClan," Dimitri frowned, no understanding much of what the older tom was telling the silver tabby, who looked like she knew what he was talking about. "We made plans to leave the Clans separately, so as not to attract suspicion to us. She was going to fake her death, and then, six seasons later, I would join her in the mountains after faking my own. I have not found her yet, and I have been to these mountains more than once. No one would suspect us ― it was a plan that had no loopholes, or so we thought then. How were we going to find each other? We didn't know the way to the mountain! It would be six seasons later, for StarClan's sake, and I wouldn't be able to find her scent. The only thing I know of her is that she passed through the twoleg territory just beyond that rise," the RiverClan tom stopped to gesture with his tail. "She left her name with some of the kittypets and rogues that lived around there ― Falcer, that's what she changed her name to. Perhaps, seeing as you were in the mountains, you might have heard of her?" he asked hopefully.

Dimitri noticed that Gladewhisper tensed, and he wondered why she did. She obviously knew the name, so he was curious to hear her answer. He'd given up trying to have any input long ago.

"I have," the silver she-cat answered carefully. "But, as you know, everything has its consequences. You must take me to the Clans, and then I will tell you where Falcer is. Agreed?"

Amarthy shook his head.

"I have no choice, do I?"

Gladewhisper smiled sweetly.

"None at all."

**Author's Note: I love Dimitri. He's so adorable!**

**I tried starting the next chapter, but it just didn't flow. So I'm going to ask you who you want to hear about next. Review with your answer. I want to get five reviews for the first time next chapter. That's all. **

**Queen Of The Pens**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_Sky & Dimitri_

"I couldn't find him, all right!" Thunder growled. "It's not my fault he went hunting."

_Poor Thunder. He must be feeling awful, having to let Blizzard go. _The snowstorm had hindered their trail, and now they had to make up for the lost time.

Sky was walking a little behind Snow, who was trailing behind Shell, as Thunder walked briskly ahead of them. Snow dropped back a little to talk to Sky, a frown on her face as she carefully placed paw after paw in front of herself, her fluffy white tail dragging in the snow, blending in with it.

"That's not Thunder."

"Hm? What?" Sky, not listening to Snow's remark, glanced at the small cat that walked at his side.

"It's not Thunder," she insisted.

"What's not Thunder?" he frowned.

"I can tell it's not Thunder," Snow meowed. "If this was happening to the _real _Thunder, his claws would be constantly sliding in and out ― I believe he picked it up from Petal ― to show that he was sad, or angry and frustrated," she gave Sky a quizzical glare as he rolled his eyes and muttered something exasperatedly. "See, right now, you're thinking, '_Snow is _such _an idiot. Of course that's Thunder ahead of us'_. But I know, from experience, that it's not. I think…I think something's taken a hold of him. Possessed him."

Sky looked at his foster sister seriously, a light concern in his pale blue eyes. For once, Snow couldn't be sure whether the concern was for her or for her brother, Thunder.

"Sky…" she started.

The brown tabby tom's face changed into some unrecognisable expression, in a way that scared her. She was so used to being able to read other cat's feelings and emotions that not being able to read emotions and feelings frightened her.

His face suddenly collapsed into a smile and he laughed.

"You're so gullible, Snow," he purred, amused, but then his face fell again. "You're right, you do know my range of expressions; you do know how to read me. So I believe you."

"You do?" Snow's voice came out in a squeak ― Sky hardly ever was as amiable and friendly as this.

Sky flicked her ear with his tail and brushed past her, stalking up to Thunder, who smiled anxiously. It made his former certainty seep away. He was sure this was the Thunder he knew.

The black tabby tom's eyes fixated on something up ahead, and he crouched down.

"Do you see it?" he meowed softly.

Sky nodded, seeing the grey-feathered hawk that was resting up ahead, and flicked his tail to show he was going to get it. He crouched down and Thunder's amber eyes followed him as he moved swiftly through the snow. The black tom followed Sky in a hunter's crouch, copying Sky's smooth movements. As Sky leaped, he leaped too, crying,

"Stop!"

Yet the brown tabby tom had not spotted the leering void, and did not have enough time to twist so as to land safely. He let out a yowl before tumbling over the edge, sinking into the depth and blackness of the abyss below.

Dimitri didn't know whether to feel angry or sad.

It was sunset, and they were just entering the nearer twolegplace, in view of the mountains, which were large, misty blue shapes in the distance. Gladewhisper and Amarthy (that was what Dimitri had decided to call him) had been talking in low voices throughout the day, discussing Clan matters. The silver she-cat often halted, as if searching for words, or long-forgotten memories of the far distant Clans that lived around the lake. She often corrected herself, but then became lost, and bemused, or refused to talk at all. There was definitely something strange about her, Dimitri decided; as if she were almost foreign.

He had begun to feel so estranged from their conversation that he didn't bother to tell them about the cats that roamed the city at night ― they were members of some strange cult that had been brought over by one of the kittypets, now leader of the cult, who had moved over to the town of Broadhinny with his owners. Broadhinny was a large town, but with a thriving population of cats, even so close to the mountains.

They were known as the Guardians of the Night; fierce cats, with long, sharp claws, glittering white fangs and glowing eyes. He was sure they weren't as terrible as they sounded, although he'd never met them; by now he was used to making assumptions of both cats and 'twolegs' as Gladewhisper and Amarthy termed housefolk.

Dimitri knew a lot about Broadhinny because of the tales and stories that the cats had brought over to the city where he lived. Stories about the Guardians of the Night were very popular; everyone wanted a change from the dull life in the city, and stories about bloodthirsty villains were just the thing for everyone who cared to listen.

"Dimitri!" Amarthy called back to him, flicking his tail. "I need you."

The ginger tom's ears perked up as he realised he was becoming useful once again. Amarthy had no knowledge at all of the winding streets Broadhinny, whilst Dimitri, who had listened to story after story about the arrangement of Broadhinny, and knew the way streets were laid out, could find his way around with great ease. He trotted ahead of the two cats feeling pleased with himself, and turned around eagerly when he heard pawsteps behind him, only to be disappointed as it turned out to be the silver tabby. She padded up gingerly beside him; it was obvious that she had become conscious of that fact she'd been rude to him, and she wasn't sure how he was going to treat her.

"Hello," she meowed cautiously.

"Hi," he said indifferently, narrowing his green eyes.

"You're…Dimitri, right?" she asked.

"You're Gladewhisper," he stated.

She nodded in agreement, although it was slow and hesitant. He decided that he didn't like her, even though he'd spoken to her no more than five times. She was too full of herself; a little too sure that whatever she did was right. Dimitri didn't like cats like that.

He focused on the scenery around him. They were going down Cecilia Ave ― he'd found that out from the kittypets that lived on the avenue, as he and Amarthy had spent the night with Jewel, a friendly cream she-cat. She was very curious about the stories of the journey; of course, back then, Amarthy had said that he'd formerly lived on a moor very far away. Back then, Dimitri had believed every word he said.

That was Jewel's house now. He could see her sitting on the fence, facing the opposite direction and watching the livid colours of the sunset.

"Jewel!" he said abruptly.

She turned around, her eyes stretched wide in amazement, and leapt off her fence and sprinted towards them.

"Hey Dimitri!" she purred enthusiastically, and then her eyes fell on Gladewhisper. "Who's this?"

"Who're you?" Gladewhisper growled rudely, adding a glare to her unsophisticated manner.

Jewel recoiled immediately, looking hurt. She'd tried her best to be friendly, and the silver tabby had just been plain rude.

Then Gladewhisper seemed to realise her mistake and shook her head.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I lost my mother and siblings a few days ago. I'm not myself."

She brushed past Jewel sadly, looking towards Dimitri's city. The cream kittypet glanced at her wondrously, whilst Dimitri felt confused. Hadn't she said she was alone in the mountains, on Clan business?

"Oh," Jewel said quietly, looking a little disheartened. "I didn't mean to offend you…" she trailed off as the silver tabby shook her head. "So where are you going?" she asked Dimitri.

The ginger tom was happy that she'd turned her attention back to him.

"We're taking her home," Amarthy meowed, walking up silently beside him. "Come on, we need to go. We have to be there as soon as possible."

Jewel tipped her head to one side, opening her mouth to speak, but then decided against it. She smiled meekly at Dimitri.

"Well, I'll see you ― soon, I guess. Bye!"

The cream cat disappeared over her fence and slipped back into her house, and Dimitri stared after her wordlessly.

Amarthy just stepped past him and meowed,

"Come on!"

Sighing, Dimitri found his place at the front, beside the now silent Gladewhisper. He turned into one of the bigger roads, and then into a smaller, dingier alley.

In seconds, they were surrounded by huge, glaring cats, their claws unsheathed. One stepped forward and hissed, his voice a rasping lisp,

"And who are you to challenge the Guardians of the Night?"

**Author's Note: Sorry for the slow update. I didn't get my five reviews :(**

**Oh well. Maybe this time I'll get them…**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

_Thunder_

It had been happening for a while now. Those moments when he lost control of his entire body, his muscles, his _mind _― everything. It had been almost continuous for some time, but then there were these brief snatches where he was free. He couldn't bear the guilt, knowing that he'd pushed all of them possibly to their deaths. When he'd leaped to save Sky, he'd regained control; but only briefly. He knew that he could have saved his foster brother, if only, if only he could have just tried harder to keep his hold over himself. He sighed, and he suddenly felt strength returning to his limbs, surging into his body, and knowing that this force, whatever it was, was about to possess him again.

He felt whoever or whatever it was swing his head round towards his sister, felt their confidence as they looked at his two sisters with glittering eyes.

"Come on, it's this way!" it said; he knew it wasn't him saying it.

It made his paws move quickly over the snow relentlessly, not caring whether Snow or Shell was hurt or lost or needed to stop. He tried to move his paw, but it didn't work.

_Don't try anything_, a voice in his head said smoothly. _I have complete and utter control of you now, so don't force yourself against me. You know all I'm trying to do is help you_.

_Who are you? _Thunder asked.

His question was answered with nothing but silence, yet the thing in his mind kept willing him on with so much strength that he couldn't resist. Then it laughed.

_I am Storm, _it replied. _The mightiest of the mountain cats ― I was once leader of the Guardians of the Night, but when they betrayed me, my loyal followers and I moved up here, trying to find a better life. Our luck was stifled when we found the Tribe of Rushing Water_.

Thunder processed the information, noticing that he had no clue what the Guardians of the Night were. He was about to ask it when it spoke again.

_The Guardians of the Night was a band of rogues, and housecats, started by me. I was a housecat once ― but those days are long gone now. We ruled the streets of Broadhinny at night. We were the mightiest of the alley cats; every cat was bent to our will, and soon, there was no stray cat in Broadhinny that roamed free. _

_What is Broadhinny? _Thunder questioned.

_Broadhinny! _Storm laughed. _Broadhinny is a town, a city, a twolegplace, as your adoptive mother would call it _― Thunder detected a sneer in his voice ― _that is ruled by us, the street cats. We were the mightiest cats there, until I was betrayed. Now, they are nothing more than a band of rogues. _

Thunder had stopped trying to struggle against Storm a long time ago, and was now placing his paws compliantly wherever Storm wanted them to go; he didn't even know whether Shell and Snow were behind him.

_Who were you betrayed by? _he asked.

_That is not for you to know_, Storm meowed stiffly. _But I have great plans for you, Thunder. You will bring the Guardians of the Night back to their former glory. Then, I will leave you, unless you go against my plans. Your sisters will be useful…in a way. Don't worry, they're still behind you._

_Good, _Thunder said. _I wouldn't forgive you if they were lost in these mountains_.

There was a pause as Thunder became lost for words, and Storm didn't feel like talking. He wanted to move his head to check if Snow and Shell were okay; Storm let him do it, and he was relieved to find that they were still there, hanging back and whispering between themselves. About him, he guessed, but he didn't mind. When he was free of Storm he would apologise and tell them all about what had happened to him.

_You care for Silver_, Storm accused him. _She raised you with love, and you love her as if she was your mother, even though she's not._

_So? _Thunder defended himself.

_Love is weak. The Guardians of the Night do not love anyone or anything, they do not care about things and they do not want to care. They are strong cats, and you must be strong too, if you are going to lead the Guardians of the Night. You must love battle, not cats._

_And what if I don't want to lead the Guardians of the Night? _Thunder challenged.

_You do, _Storm said coldly. _You are a strong cat, Thunder. Strong cats do not have a place for love in their heart._

_So you are asking me to stop loving my sisters, _Thunder growled. _You are a heartless cat, Storm. There is no place in this world for cats without hearts._

_You question me, _Storm snarled. _You don't realise that I can bring you greatness. I can kill you in an instant, Thunder. You must obey me. _

_Ha! _Thunder laughed. _You don't want to kill me. You want to use me ― and at least, if I die, I'll go to StarClan. At least then I'll be happy. I'm not afraid of death. You are, aren't you Storm? You're dead, and you want to live again, so you're living through me. _

_Maybe I am_, Storm hissed, _but at least I'm not afraid to admit what I've done. I have made myself great, and I am making you great. I know that you pushed Silver and Ice and Eagle over the edge two moons ago ― I know that it was your plotting and planning that made Sky and Blizzard fall._

_Only because you were controlling me! _Thunder snarled. _I tried to stop it happening, but you were too strong._

_Soon, you will be this strong, _Storm whispered. _I have great things planned for you._

_Why me, why not someone else? _Thunder asked.

_I chose you because you are my son, and I am your father._

**Author's Note: That was the shortest chapter. I'll try to make them longer in the future, I promise. And please remember to review! I still haven't got my five reviews for a chapter.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

_The Betrayer_

His name was The Betrayer ― many had heard of him, oh yes, but not many had seen him; quite a few had seen his glowing green eyes in the darkness of the night, but very little were privileged to see him truly. Few had beheld his shredded ears, or the three livid scars on either cheek ― or the smooth black pelt in which a horrible scar was hidden, a bitter reminder of the days when he had been a kittypet. No one knew he was a kittypet, though, he made sure of it. Those that found out weren't as lucky as to see the light of a new day.

The huge black tom lay splayed upon the hay of a deserted barn, uninterestedly flicking away a fly that was brave enough to land on his ear. They really were going to have to sort out some better accommodation for him, when their group had grown enough to take Broadhinny. After the Betrayal, many cats had fled the group in a desperate hope that they could find safety within the city. Unfortunately, they had been right, and he'd lost control of the East Side; but that was mainly one of the problems of leadership, and once the scouts returned he was sure that Broadhinny was to be ruled by them once more.

A brown tabby tom with a cut on his forehead that kept his eye permanently half-closed slipped into the barn, wrinkling his nose as he picked his way through the dried horse manure towards the loft where The Betrayer was sitting lazily, his tail swinging hypnotically back and forth. He opened one green eye slowly, as if reluctant to move from his position.

"Ah, Snitch," he drawled. "Just the cat I was looking for."

The brown tabby drew himself up in an odd manner, but it turned out that it was his way of preparing to leap as a few seconds later he landed on all four paws in the hay next to the large black tom. He seemed quite at home with the rather intimidating black cat ― in fact, it felt as if there was a closeness between the two as if the pair were friends.

"Bessie is kitting," Snitch meowed. "She asked for you."

"Did she?" the black tom sounded surprised. "Not many cats _ask _for me."

Snitch rolled his eyes and gave him a shove, then jumped off the loft.

"Come on, Krypt," he gestured with his tail to the barn door.

Snitch gave the wooden barn door an experimental shove with his paw, and let out a creaking, groaning sound, opening ever so slightly more than it had already been and letting in a draft of cold air. Newleaf was still a moon away, and the chill of leafbare still hung in the air like an unpleasant scent.

Shivering, the black tom rolled over, twisted himself into an odd, contorted shape and then jumped, yawning, to his paws. He bounded off the loft in a single leap and followed Snitch into the frosty night outside.

Around him, there were burnt out old buildings, most of them former warehouses. Glass littered the sidewalks, catching the unnatural light that flooded out of the holes that had once been windows. For some reason, the humans had decided to try and restore this part of Broadhinny after the fire that had raged through the West Side, reconnecting all the electrics, but then simply walked away and forgotten all about it. Now, the abandoned streets of Broadhinny served as the headquarters for the Guardians of the Night.

The murky depths of the enclosed alleyways slowly opened out into a large main street, once the pride of the West Side; flowers had formerly bloomed on either side of the road in the gardens of the now tattered brick cottages, but all that remained of them now were blackened, mangled stalks, almost completely destroyed by the fire. The cobble stones littered the street, ashen and loosened in the extensive heat.

"This isn't very inviting, is it?" The Betrayer said softly, not intending for Snitch to reply. "But that's a good thing," he laughed. "Back before the Betrayal, we had to live in the open, in a beautiful place, before the fire. I like to think the fire was one of the best things that ever happened."

"Yes," Snitch agreed; before anything had changed, he'd just been one of the ordinary cats that held a fairly junior position.

The Betrayal had altered both Snitch's and The Betrayer's positions greatly. They had been junior fighters, a large group of cats that fought for the Guardians of the Night. If you were one of the most loyal fighters, you were promoted to senior fighter, and then, if you impressed the leader once more, you were promoted to a scout, the most trusted cats in the Guardians of the Night ― that is, only if you were the leader or the second-in-command. Now, the fighters were trained extensively more than they had used to, and this time it was inclusive of she-cats as well, for the regime under the previous leader had knocked them out completely of the pecking order.

About five cats studied herb lore (most chose to, but some were forced), and then there were the bearers, she-cats who were bearing kits for one of the fighters, scouts, or even the leader or second-in-command.

They stopped outside a concrete warehouse with a word painted in fading red across the creaking sign that swung with the wind. A rusty metal lock hung open off the wooden door, but still held two places together. Snitch quickly solved this by flicking his paw up almost nonchalantly, and sending it clattering to the floor; the leafbare winds soon took up their chances, and the door banged shut several times before creaking open again, allowing Snitch and The Betrayer to squeeze through the temporary gap. There were several muffled gasps and squeals when The Betrayer entered, but then there was dead silence, until a bearer's anguished cry tore through it all.

The black tom glanced at Snitch, who nodded, and then continued on in silence, taking in his surroundings ― the bare concrete walls, with faded rugs and cushions scattered around the place. Four poster beds hung with drapery were placed throughout the room, the largest of which was in the centre. The Betrayer understood that this had once been a warehouse for these comfortable items, and after the fire they had tried to reuse it but given up, so now it was the perfect place for the bearers.

His paws met soft fabric, a drastic change from the rough hay and cobbles from the places he was used to walking around in. _I really ought to take some of these to the barn_, he noted, testing the squishy fabric with his paws, _and I should consider moving out of the barn ― it's too draughty. I don't know how I coped last leafbare._

Above them a light swung and flickered dingily in and out of existence. He frowned. He'd thought the light had gone out moons ago.

"You coming?" Snitch asked, jolting him out of his thoughts.

He was standing by the biggest bed placed in the centre, with steps made of cushions leading up to it. The Betrayer merely nodded; he didn't like to overuse his voice, because it had been damaged in the fire, and didn't sound as intimidating as it used to. He would talk freely around Snitch, Bessie, and the head cat of herb lore, but no one else.

He padded delicately up the squishy stairs, carefully sheathing his claws so that they didn't catch on anything. He then slipped through the swaying silken drapery, into the warm nest that lay within.

Cushions of all different colours were arranged around a single she-cat in the middle. She was a very pretty cat ― blue eyes were set in a slightly triangular face, and on each point she had grey-black tabby stripes that faded slowly into her creamy white fur, which was short and smooth. She seemed perfectly calm, sitting in the middle of the cushions with three kits nestled close to her, and five cats looking over her anxiously. When The Betrayer arrived, four of them lowered their eyes and disappeared through the drapery, while the fifth, a grey she-cat, stared him right in the face with her large silvery green eyes.

"They're all perfectly healthy," she meowed, flicking her tail towards the kits. "Including the mother. Two toms and a she-cat."

She then dipped her head, leaving behind a pile of green leaves that had a strange odorous scent, and followed the other cats through the drapery, leaving the three cats alone. Snitch stood just inside, separated a little from the large black tom and the pretty she-cat.

"I was thinking Frost for that one," the she-cat pointed to a kit that was almost a miniature copy of herself, except with a silvery tabby pattern rather than a grey one.

The black tom nodded in agreement, and then pointed to the kit that looked exactly like him, save the rather prominent scars on his face and pelt.

"Scar," he meowed. "It suits him, don't you think, Bessie?"

Bessie looked at him with a mock disbelieving expression on her face; but he saw it for what it was, and he merely sighed good-naturedly (which was a rare happening for him), and cuffed her gently around the ear. If it had been anyone else, save Snitch, or Willow, the head of the herb lore cats, even if they'd put the same expression on their face, would have a wound to remember. He only ever showed his soft side to his mate and to Snitch ― but Willow seemed unshaken by his tough ways, and was always sarcastic and a little pessimistic.

"That one's Shade," Bessie said, pointing to the final kit, a blackish-grey tabby. "No disagreeing about that."

"That's a good name," The Betrayer agreed, fondly looking at the three squirming bundles. "I ―"

He was interrupted by a loud bang as the door swung open, letting in a blast of cold air. Snitch and The Betrayer exchanged looks and then the brown tabby bounded away, into the main area of the warehouse.

"This area is prohibited, Jackson. You know that," Snitch growled warningly, raising his paw to strike the cowering dark brown and black tabby.

"No, please sir, Amber sent me! She said for you to come right away, sir! Something about trouble on the borders, sir!" Jackson mewed desperately, already flinching as he prepared for the blow.

But it was a blow that never came, as Snitch lowered his paw interestedly, his eyes narrowing. Amber was the head of the she-cat scout group, and held a very important position in the hierarchy, so naturally, anyone carrying news from her was believed to be telling the truth.

"Trouble on the border?" he asked. "Is it those mouse-brained East Siders?"

Jackson shook his head, his ears flattened and his golden eyes tiny, frightened slits. His paw shifted nervously from left to right.

The Betrayer padded down the cushion stairs and Jackson hastily lowered his eyes, glaring at the concrete floor beneath his paws.

"Show me the way," he said in a deep, commanding rasp. "And who is it?"

"Strange cats, sir," Jackson answered, his voice quivering with fear as he led them out the door and onto the main street. "There are three, sir ― two toms and a she-cat. Apparently the she-cat looks like she could do a real bit of damage, sir, and one of the toms seems to be able to fight. The third's a kittypet, sir, probably not much use to them. They're walking around like they own the place, sir, or so says Amber."

"So you didn't see them?" Snitch queried.

"No, sir, one of the scouts in Amber's group came to me and told me to pass you on the message, sir. I'm a messenger, sir, and I've been trained for fast flight," Jackson said.

They were heading towards the East Side of Broadhinny ― a road that was pretty much only used for scouting nowadays, but it still showed the same signs of destruction as the other roads did. They had to be careful where they put their feet, but Jackson seemed confident as the messengers lived near the edge of the territory, so that patrols of scouts could find them quickly. Part of their rigorous training included making their way quickly through glass without cutting their paws, because they were no use if they couldn't run, or walk for that matter. They stopped, sighting a large amber coloured she-cat standing at the edge of a very obvious line that separated where the fire had burnt and where it had not. Jackson turned tail and fled, but the two other cats neared the patrol of scouts, all of whom except Amber lowered their eyes. They perceived that, not too far away, three cats were making their way through the East Side, ever coming closer to the ruined West Side. The Betrayer recognised the toms and his eyes narrowed.

"Aren't those two the ones we watched cross our territory before?" he hissed to Amber, who nodded her large head.

"The silver tabby's a new addition, though," Amber responded. "She has real fighting spirit in her ― I can tell."

"She might be useful," The Betrayer meowed softly.

She shook her head, her tail twitching impatiently. She obviously wanted to get into battle; even though the scouts' main jobs were to go on risky expeditions to the East Side, most scouts all enjoyed a good fight, and were excellent fighters.

"Fighting spirit also means she has a lot of loyalty. I doubt she'll give in. This might be the East Side's equivalent of scouts."  
"Marching right into our territory in plain view of us? I don't think so!" he scoffed.

"Just an idea," Amber shrugged, and then whispered suddenly, "Shush!"

On silent command, the scout patrol that consisted of eight cats, plus Snitch and The Betrayer, crept forwards into the East Side and surrounded the three cats on the alleyway that was the entrance to the fire-ruined side of Broadhinny. At first they didn't notice the strong patrol of cats that surrounded him, and walked on for a few paces, until the silver she-cat stopped, alarmed, and looked around for means of escape. Both toms already looked defeated, the smaller orange kittypet looking more so. The Betrayer knew this was his cue.

He stepped forwards out of the patrol of scouts and growled in his rasping voice,

"And who are you to challenge the Guardians of the Night?"

**Author's Note: That's the longest chapter yet, I think. Almost three pages in size 10 font! :) I got four reviews last chapter. Everyone who reads this, please review. It makes me feel appreciated.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_Petal_

Her eyes clouding into a dark, stormy blue, the silver she-cat unsheathed her claws, staring into the great green depths of the eyes of the speaker. She crouched down, pressing her stomach flat to the ground in a vain hope that they wouldn't see her shape stretched upon the rough cobblestones of the alley. But of course, several pairs of eyes followed her descent, and remained staring at her for impossibly long without blinking.

And then her mind went blank.

She glanced sideways at Dimitri and Galestorm ― the older of the two was frowning, his eyes flitting this way and that, as if planning some escape, whilst the ginger kittypet was just standing there, his eyes fixed on something in the distance in a possessed manner, his stance stock-still and his paws planted firmly on the ground. Petal was not Snow, but she knew how to read obvious feelings, and she could tell that Dimitri was scared.

"Amber," this time, a different voice spoke up, the owner of which being a tom with amber eyes, one very much smaller than the other; a little light touched his pelt, giving away his brown tabby stripes.

Petal's eyes widened as several cats stepped forwards, the largest of which grabbed her by the scruff and held her swinging form as if she were a kit. She was quite big for her age, but she'd never seen a cat that was simply this…large.

She struggled against her captor's grip, but they merely dug their teeth harder into her fur and she finally gave up, gasping in pain ― and she was surprised to find that she was set down again, and opened her eyes to look straight into a pair of amber ones, which didn't belong to the brown tabby tom.

"You're walking," the cat growled; and it turned out to be a she-cat, not a tom, like Petal had thought. "But if you struggle anymore ―" she raised her paw and Petal caught a glimpse of her long claw as it found the light, "― I can't say I won't harm you."

She pushed herself to her paws, tossing her sleek silver head determinedly.

"You don't scare me," she hissed, barring her teeth.

Amber sighed; she had guessed right. The silver she-cat before her could be no older than nine moons, but she was very much determined to fight, and probably one of the cats to which loyalty mattered the most. She must be one of the East Side scouts Amber had seen skulking around earlier, trying whenever possible to cross the boundary into the West Side. She raised her large amber paw, drawing it back for height and momentum.

Petal narrowed her eyes to slits, waiting for the unsheathed claws to come tearing down on her shoulder, until she noticed movement behind the huge she-cat. The brown tabby tom rested his tail on her paw and spoke to her, as if he was a person held in her respect and esteem.

"Don't," he said softly. "Sometimes, using softer methods helps," he swivelled his gaze onto Petal. "I'm Snitch, second-in-command of the Guardians of the Night ― and you're coming with me."

xXx

This had been her only chance.

Her only chance to find her father, and get her mother and siblings back, and she'd failed.

Snitch was padding unconcernedly ahead of her, finding his way easily through the broken glass that littered the alley; the whole place was desolate, ash and dust and glass in every nook and cranny, bits of the dingy buildings spread over the sidewalk. She wondered where they even were ― there was obvious signs of fire damage, but how had it happened? According to Silver, twolegs could easily control fire to do their bidding. Had perhaps the twolegs abandoned it because it was not good enough for them, and then left it to burn because they didn't care about it?

She bristled. She'd been taught that nothing should be wasted, even if it was prey in greenleaf; if you have enough, then why kill it? It seemed as if the twolegs could not be satisfied with anything they got.

"What is this place?" she found herself asking Snitch, to both her and the tom's surprise.

He glanced at Petal slightly doubtfully, and gestured for her to catch up to him, which the silver she-cat did with a little hesitation. If she remained behind him, then she could pounce on him from behind, knock him out and then flee the area, and hopefully never see it again. The only issue was that she had absolutely no idea where she was going, and she really need Dimitri…she didn't have to have Galestorm, but she'd made a promise to him, and she, for one, didn't take promises lightly.

"This is the West Side of Broadhinny," he meowed. "The Guardians of the Night used to have control of the whole city, both East and West Sides, until the Betrayal. The Betrayal was conducted by the Betrayer, me, and Amber, that she-cat you met back there," he jerked his head back to show where he meant. "We were angry at the creator of the Guardians of the Night because he treated us unfairly ― she-cats weren't allowed to be scouts or fighters, just bearers and learners of herb lore."

When Petal looked at him blankly, her eyes flickering uncertainly from silver to blue, he laughed.

"You start off as a fighter, trained under a senior fighter," he explained. "Once you've finished your training, you stay as a fighter, but if you do well you're moved up to a senior fighter; and if you are a good senior fighter, you're promoted to a scout. They scout the borders, and sort out all of the fights that are caused from East Side ― wait for it ―" he said quickly as he noticed Petal opening her mouth, "and they also deal with anyone who tries to escape into the East Side. Oh, there are also messengers, who carry messages with speed between two cats or two parties of cats; mostly, the ones that don't like fighting because they're too small are made messengers. I suppose you might call bearers queens, kit-mothers or mothers, take your pick, and learners of the herb lore study medicine; they help you if you're injured or sick, and they also help bearers deliver kits."

"Oh!" Petal put in. "Like medicine cats!"

Snitch looked at her curiously but didn't press a further question to her. Instead, he looked at his paws briefly to find his way, and then quickly glanced back up.

"The gist of the Betrayal was to give everyone a level of fairness," Snitch continued. "She-cats were treated like vermin ― some of the first leader's scouts and senior fighters held she-cats in the dark cellars of warehouses for days on end, simply for the purpose of having a good laugh. Of course, they're all held under tight guard," he added, pointing with his tail towards probably the least destroyed building of the whole lot; it had bars instead of windows, and four strong, swarthy cats stood by the entrance, looking proud and foreboding. "It was a similar position for fighters. They were tortured to some extent, but I received probably the worst injury. My eye was clawed this way by a scout when I refused to do his bidding. I didn't stand up for myself, because you couldn't, otherwise you wouldn't survive properly for another day. That stuck-up scout got what he deserved," he flexed his claws. "The Betrayal came round soon after that, a protest against its creator and the then ― well, not a leader ― a _controller_, let's say. But everything has its consequences, and some of the former fighters and scouts, who had not entirely agreed with the controller, fled the headquarters and taking the more loosely held East Side for themselves, because they feared a worse reign under the Betrayer.

Yet before that, the first leader started a fire in the West Side, one so large that sent twolegs fleeing from their homes and jobs, because this once was where lots of the twolegs worked, and there were very few houses. They didn't even bother trying to control it. We were fighting through flames and thick ash, but somehow we won, with only a few casualties. The Betrayer, however, got burnt and almost lost his voice, but thanks to Willow he regained some of it. Some of the stronger cats chased after the tail ends of the former leader's followers, catching some of them. We've kept them here ever since, thanks to Amber, who organised a place for them to stay, and the regular guard.

"The East Side cats now fight us at every opportunity, because they think we're treating these cats unfairly, when we're actually not. It's because most of them have relatives here, and they don't want them suffering without them ― or something ridiculous along the lines of that."

"You don't have relatives, do you?" Petal accused him.

Snitch shook his head.

"They died, in the fire that the first leader created," he said sadly.

"Where did he go?" Petal asked.

"Where did who go?" Snitch frowned.

"The first leader," she said.

"Oh, him," the brown tabby meowed. "We're not exactly sure, but one of our scout parties, led by Amber, of course, followed him all the way up to the foot of the mountains, and even up the slopes for a while. There is a group of cats up there already ―"

"The Tribe of Rushing Water," Petal muttered.

Snitch, being quite absorbed in his speech, did not hear Petal, and merely continued unhindered.

"― but he was too proud to join them, so we're guessing he settled somewhere quite far away from them, trying to restart the Guardians of the Night, an attempt which failed. We believe everyone in the remaining eight or nine cats died, but we're not entirely sure."

"Wait, in the mountains?" she meowed, slightly shocked.

Had she been living in the mountains beside this…this monster?

"Spill," Snitch growled, the first sign of hostility he'd shown to her.

"I lived with the Tribe of Rushing Water," she said, a tremor in her voice. "They were the group of cats your party found, living in the mountains. I was leaving with my mother and my siblings…" she trailed off, and Snitch narrowed his eyes interestedly.

"The Tribe of Rushing Water," he said softly. "Yes, I've heard the name. Off some nutty East Sider who was chatting to Sophia, the leader of the opposing force. They were passing a bit too close to the border for my liking, so I gave them a couple of scratches and that got rid of them soon enough."

_Sophia_, Petal thought, wondering if she'd heard the name before. Deciding she hadn't, she shook her head and continued walking beside Snitch. It was then it struck her; only a distant memory from moons ago, but still there, an image that wasn't entirely certain.

"This leader…what was his name?" she asked.

Snitch hesitated, his eyes clouding over as he tried to remember. He frowned, shook his head, frowned again, and then nodded.

"I believe it was Storm."

And then it all came crashing down.

**Author's Note: Obvious cliffie, much? So, I bet you're all going to ask this question, **_**'why does Petal know Storm's name and Thunder doesn't?' **_**Well, Storm is possessing Thunder, so he has access to all Thunder's memories, and everything he's ever felt, so that means he can change, alter and twist every memory or just keep it away from him. Sad, isn't it?**

**Would you believe it? *counts reviews* For the first time, I got five reviews! It must mean there's something special about Chapter 10 that people like. It must be the Guardians of the Night, or Snitch power! Everyone loves Snitch, don't they? Well, hopefully I'll get five reviews this chapter, and everyone who reviewed last chapter gets a free Snitch plushie. Sorry for rambling! Next chapter is Thunder, and it'll be good, I promise you. And after that, the Guardians of the Night again ― we won't see Blizzard for a while now, sorry, because I have the most awesome event planned! Bye everyone!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_Shell_

"Thunder, are you even listening to me?" Shell asked, frustrated, as the black tabby tom ignored her for the hundredth time that day.

This time, he turned around, blinking apologetically at her, and slowing down so that she and Snow could catch up. She knew that her brother felt really bad for losing Blizzard and then Sky in a matter of sunrises, but he really had to get a grip. She would have sworn that earlier on in the day, Thunder was having a mini conversation with himself, agreeing and disagreeing, and then agreeing again, nodding quickly, and then bristling slightly as he changed his mind again.

"I'm sorry," Thunder meowed. "I guess I'm not myself."

The brown-and-white tabby she-cat padded up to her brother and rested her tail on his shoulder, noticing that it was getting dark and that the pale mountain sun was disappearing below the tallest mountain, Sunset Mountain, giving way to a watery sunset that meekly spread its whitewashed colours over the great grey mountains which dwarfed the power and colours of the sunset even more so.

"Of course you're not yourself," Shell said gently, glaring over Thunder's shoulder at Snow, who was hanging back and keeping away from her siblings; when the tortoiseshell tabby beckoned angrily for her to come over, she just shook her head and kicked up snow in her wake. "It wasn't your fault that we lost Sky and Blizzard over the edge ― it's just bad luck."  
Thunder flinched away from Shell's sympathetic look, and she wondered what she'd done wrong.

"In these mountains, Shell, I don't think there _is _a StarClan," he said quietly; but his voice was sharp, and reproachful, and it hurt Shell.

Wondering what was wrong with him, Shell dropped back and walked with Snow, who was staring stonily into the distance, her blue eyes fixated on a great, looming shadow that was, no doubt, another mountain. There was nothing odd there; the tortoiseshell was sure that there were many more than the six mountains Silver had told her about, because every time she scanned the horizon, she counted more and more peaks then she thought she'd ever counted, until her eyes begun to water and she turned away. That had all been before this, when she actually had time to do things, instead of plodding on for endless miles, not even sure whether they were going in circles, because the landscape on this mountain never changed ― and of course, they had no means of finding out where they were until they came to the lake, which the Clans lived around. Right now, they were in the middle of nowhere.

"Look!" Snow said suddenly, jerking her tail forward towards the grey hazy mass in front of them.

"What?" Shell asked, puzzled, looking between her sister and the thing in front of them.

Then her eyes widened at the sight before her; the cliff face jutted up steeply, so that it was impenetrable. Neither snow nor wind could find its way onto it, leaving a patch of slate grey rock, completely out of place in the white landscape that surrounded it. And the most striking thing of all was the huge cave that was cut into the wall of rock, a leering, dark and wholly uninviting place in the middle of the mountains. But it was shelter ― somewhere away from the constant snow and the bone-chilling wind that swept over the mountainside each day.

And then something moved in the depth of the cave, and Shell leaned forwards, squinting, to see whether her eyes were deceiving her.

"Did you see that?" she whispered.

"Of course I saw that!" Snow replied. "There's something _in _there, living in there."

"How do you know?"

"It's just…just a feeling," Snow explained haltingly, her blue eyes clouding slightly.

A harsh cry from inside the cave made the two she-cats' blood run cold, and their whole body tensed, ready for a fight. Pawsteps from inside the cavern echoed around the mountain with enormous force, and Shell and Snow exchanged glances of both horror and amazement, their eyes stretched wide, as they prepared for the sight that would emerge slowly before them. Within heartbeats, the pawsteps grew louder, and it became apparent that there was more than one cat ― possibly two dozen could be walking in time with each other, creating loud, reverberating footsteps. Thunder glanced back at them with something close to desperation in his gaze, and then his head went rigid and he turned his head forwards again, just in time to see cats emerging from the cave, two dozen in all, each sporting huge muscles and long claws and sharp white fangs. And they were all chanting the same, monotonous song, an ugly, dull, yet constant sound that went with the rhythm of their feet.

"War floods to our paws ―" thump, thump, thump, thump "― we come marching ―" step, step, step "― to its doors ―" step, thump, step "― for we are the Guardians ―" silence "― of! The! Night!"

Silence flooded the air. Twenty-four pairs of glaring eyes were fixated on the three littermates, most on Thunder who was ahead of them, protecting them from the view of most of the cats that stood in two ordered lines. The two cats at the front were the most fearsome by far; one was a ginger tabby tom, his head raised proudly and a defiant gleam in his eye. The other was a she-cat; she had very narrow, ice blue glittering eyes, high cheekbones and a mean, pointed face, her fur a golden amber colour. But at her paws, tailtip, ears and muzzle, her beautiful golden fur melted into a dark brown-grey colour, almost the same colour as the rock behind her. To both sisters' surprise, it was Thunder who spoke first, but in a voice they did not recognise, a lower, deeper voice, powerful and commanding.

"Blaze; why did you give Star a position of power?" he asked ― it wasn't him, but at the same time, it _was _him.

Blaze, the tom, tossed his head defiantly, whilst Star, the she-cat, narrowed her narrow eyes even more than it seemed possible, so that they were no more than tiny amber slits.

"Whatever you've done, Storm, to get back onto this earth, does not mean you rule the Guardians of the Night anymore. It's a new generation, Storm. This time, Blaze rules," Star meowed coolly, her eyes glittering with a malicious light.

"My son will lead over you!" Thunder's mouth moved, but he wasn't the cat speaking. "And you will respect him!"

"Is this your son now, Storm?" Star taunted. "Apparently he isn't strong enough to resist you."  
The cats behind her laughed; Shell noticed that they were all she-cats and that behind Blaze they were all toms, but both were muscular and had the same, sneering look on their face. Most of the cats had dusty grey, black or brown pelts, with amber or brown eyes and scraped pink pads ― it was obvious that, although they might have lived in the mountains for a while, that they weren't mountain cats. Mountain cats possessed hard, black pads which didn't get cut or broken; Shell and her siblings didn't have them, seeing as their parents weren't cats that had been born or brought up in the mountains.

"My son is allowing me to speak through him!" Storm spat, his anger hardening Thunder's eyes. "He is not weakling, like you!"

The golden she-cat had no time to duck as Storm moved Thunder's body, and leapt at her, scratching her ruffled pelt and the pink skin beneath it. But for the briefest split-second, Thunder regained control and made a run for it, struggling to keep his hold over himself. Storm seized control again after a short struggle, and he swung Thunder's head around, now standing just a little in front of Shell and Snow.

"Not such a willing host, I see," Star sneered. "Ivory, Cadence, take him to the Chambers!"

A black she-cat and a grey she-cat stepped out of line, only to be faced off by a muscular brown tom and a brown tabby from the line next to them. Star stared in amazement as her line of she-cats of which there were only eight, including herself, were surrounded by fifteen cats from Blaze's line, of which Blaze wasn't a member.

"Traitor!" Star snarled at her brother. "We promised to protect each other, and defend each other, no matter what."

Blaze stared at his sister, sorrow clouding his amber eyes, no longer the strong cat that had stood before them only heartbeats before.

"I am protecting you, Star; I am defending you," he said. "Your decisions are not mine to make, but I can help you in this, because I am still loyal to Storm, although maybe not to his ways. We were brought up to honour and love whoever we served, and that is what I am doing. We served each other here in the mountains, when Storm wasn't here. But he told us he'd come back, somehow, and reclaim the Guardians of the Night for us, and I realise that keeping things the way they were will not make us side with the Betrayal. We were the cats that were loyal to Storm, and will be until our last breath. That is why we fled to the mountains with him; because we could not bear to dishonour him without our loyalty which we pledged to him. Our mother brought us up well, Star, and we were the two of our siblings that stuck to our oath. Please don't be like Amber. Please don't leave me to be the only one who knows their place in the Guardians of the Night, who knows how it should be. You know it too, Star, and the brief glimpse of freedom you've had has been great for you but…but I don't think it's a long-time arrangement. The Betrayals has shown us that having equality between tom and she-cat loses battles. The entire East Side is now under the control of enemy paws, thanks to the radical thinking of the Betrayer."

Star looked shocked, and understandably hurt at his speech, as did the other cats surrounding her. Her blue eyes lost their determination and iciness, and they now acted like two watery blue mirrors, reflecting all her pain and hurt in them.

"I thought…I thought you realised there was another way," she whispered hoarsely, and then, rather suddenly, her whole attitude changed.

Her muscles stiffened, her claws slid out, her teeth were barred, and her fur fluffed up. And she smiled. It was a cold, uninviting, totally unpleasant smile, but it was still a smile.

"I don't think our friend over here entirely agrees with you," she flicked her ear towards the black tabby, the mocking smile still planted on her face.

Blaze faced his sister, ignoring her comment, his feet firmly planted in the snow, his amber eyes glaring long and deep into his sister's icy blue ones. There was a long silence, in which both Blaze and Star just stared at each other with the same hard look on their faces; then, the ginger tom turned away, and, with the slightest flick of his tail, gestured for Star and her cats to be taken away. The toms swarmed on the she-cats, shoving them away roughly by their scruffs, striking them if they struggled against their rough grip. Only Star remained unmoved as she was dragged away, her face blank and unreadable as she stared into nothingness.

xXx

"You have done well," Storm, or Thunder growled; Shell didn't know what to call him. "I must congratulate you on your strength."

"Show yours, sir," Blaze challenged, eyes flaring as he looked at Shell and Snow, huddled together to find whatever comfort or warmth they could.

The black tabby tom drew himself up to his full height; his amber eyes cold and calculating and narrowed, and he glowered at the ginger cat in front of him. Shell and Snow had no idea what was happening ― was this Thunder, standing up for his sisters, or was this Storm, standing up for his daughters?

"This is different," it was Storm speaking, Shell decided. "That was necessary. My daughters shall be treated as toms for the time being. They are strong, and not weak at heart like your sister is. Star had had spent too long in freedom to get ideas like that in her head."

"Yes, sir," Blaze nodded, although he didn't look particularly pleased. "I understand that you wish your daughters to do well, sir. May I be so bold to inquire whether my daughters may be treated as such, sir?"

"You may," Storm said, his voice cutting the air. "Choose one to be taught the ways of the Guardians of the Night. They will be the only she-cats to live in this way."

The ginger tom nodded; his ears perked back up and he looked altogether happier, although he sent a death stare in the two sisters' direction. Storm noticed it, and sent his own glare at Blaze, who wisely decided to ignore it.

"Marlo!" the black tabby tom snapped suddenly, and a dark brown-and-white tom stepped forwards stiffly, his body and tail straight and erect. "Show my daughters around. We leave as the sun rises on the next day, so prepare the troops. This is a battle we must win."

"Sir!" Marlo said loudly, almost shouting. "But we do not have enough troops, sir!"

"We can all fight like ten cats!" Storm growled. "Or that is how I trained you to fight. Now go, Marlo, and fulfil your duty!"

"Sir!"

xXx

Marlo turned out to be a nice cat ― well, as nice as you could get.

Blaze and Star were his adopted siblings, which he'd never been very happy about. They were actually cousins, but having to grow up together had alienated him from Blaze and his sisters (it turned out that Blaze had two sisters, Star and Amber, the latter of which had been part of the Betrayal), and they didn't talk very much anymore. He'd never liked fighting very much, and he didn't like Storm's policy of fighting to the death, an essential part of training. Every cat knew how to perform the killing bite, a move which Silver had skirted away from when training Shell and her littermates. He trotted along merrily beside them, detailing in a quiet but excited voice how he actually agreed with the Betrayal's policy, but hadn't had the courage to join in, because he was afraid that they'd reject them. He told them that he wished he'd made his move beforehand, but seeing as they were going to the city of Broadhinny very soon, he'd do it then and surprise Blaze and Storm.

"Storm's your father, right?" Marlo enquired; Shell looked miserable at the question, and Snow's eyes clouded over, so he added hurriedly, "you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Shell shook her tortoiseshell head with a quiet sigh, her paws thudding on the rocky ground beneath them. The cave was actually remarkably large, yet warm, but only a few cats passed them as they walked, and they always skirted around Marlo and the two sisters with lowered heads; but Shell saw them peeking curiously over their shoulders when they were behind them, and thought they couldn't be seen. Marlo had explained who and what they were when they first saw one of them passing in the shadows of the wide corridor. He'd laughed, actually, as if he couldn't believe they didn't know what the cats were.

"They're training to be like us," he meowed, and then added, in a hushed whisper, "as if anyone would _want _to! Blaze and Star ― well, not Star anymore, I guess ― forced them to train; even if they were the weakest kit. Blaze himself was the runt of the litter, and he always uses the fact to give inspirational speeches to us at any opportunity. They must show respect at all times to us, and even when they become a full member of the Guardians of the Night, they must still lower their heads in our presence because we are older and therefore considered better than them. Not the greatest idea for someone to whom equality is one of their greatest beliefs."

Shell smiled faintly, only very slightly amused. Marlo must feel very alone, with no one to express his true feelings to, and no one to help him with his plan. He managed to keep a merry enough face in their presence, but she couldn't imagine how he felt when he had no company. Did he talk to himself?

Marlo had explained the process of the Guardians of the Night earlier when they had been walking along and Snow had questioned him about it because she'd heard it spoken many a time. Again, the brown-and-white tabby had laughed, which he often did, but this time in a bitter way. You could tell he had seen many bitter leafbares, as it read all over his face, and that he still wasn't used to the mountain temperatures. He'd commented on how Shell and Snow didn't seem to feel the cold despite their short coats, which Shell had just smiled at.

"We were born in the mountains, we were raised in the mountains, and we learned to train in the mountains," she said. "I think that might have something to do with it. We're used to it."

"That's impossible!" Marlo complained. "I've been here for about four seasons now, and I'm not accustomed to it. Neither is Sienna, for that matter."

"Sienna?" Shell and Snow asked at the same time.

"Sienna," Marlo repeated. "She's my mate. She's fiercely supportive of the Betrayal act, as are the other bearers ― queens, or kit-mothers ― but they don't voice their opinion to most of us, because most of us are the supporters of Storm. She's going to have kits any time soon," he meowed fondly, his eyes becoming soft.

"Were you one of the original cats to come to the mountains?" Shell asked.

Marlo nodded; a wistful expression crossed the tom's face but he pushed it away, replacing it with a smile.

"There were fourteen of us, at first ― me, Blaze, Star, Sienna, Storm, Ivory, Cadence and Thatcher were the only ones that are still alive; the others were Jill, Stomp, Clash, Dusty, Whisker and Falcer."

Shell stiffened at the last name. _Falcer_, the word seemed to echo around the cave. The mysterious black-and-white she-cat whom Silver had spoken ever so gently of; the cat that had given them up so that they could live, even though she knew that she was going to die at the paws of the cat who supposedly loved her. And now, they had repaid her sacrifice by getting caught by the cat she had died to keep them away from.

"Shell," Snow murmured; they had come to a halt, and Shell had simply kept going, bumping unintentionally into her sister.

Marlo was looking around, beaming, at the sight before them. It was much like the rest of the cave, but it was smaller and warmer, and there was a milky scent in the air. Hazy purrs came from the centre, and Shell narrowed her eyes to make out several she-cats, their bellies heavy with kits, and some with kits kneading their tiny paws into the queens' sides.

"Do we have visitors?" one she-cat asked, raising her head.

"That's Sienna," Marlo whispered.

Sienna rose to her paws, showing off her lean figure and pointed muzzle. Her fur was blue-grey, and her eyes were the blue of the mountain sky when there were no clouds about and there were the weak rays of the sun reflecting off the ice, turning it a dazzling white. One paw was white, as was her muzzle, and her tail was long and feathery, in a way that reminded Shell a little of a bird's tail.

"Names?" Sienna asked pointedly, and rather abruptly.

"Shell and Snow," Marlo answered for them. "They're going to be staying with you whilst most of us are gone. Take good care of them; Storm has returned, and they are his daughters."

Shocked gasps arose from all the queens, and they looked at each other with widened eyes. _How had Storm returned? They'd seen him fall for themselves, down over the teetering precipice!_

"How did that happen?" the blue-grey she-cat asked Marlo in a quiet whisper.

"I don't know," Marlo shrugged, using the same tone. "We're going down the mountain tomorrow, to find the Guardians of the Night."

Sienna closed her eyes and sighed, and pressed against him, looking as if she were going to cry. Instead, she whispered something in his ear,

"Stay safe."

Marlo purred, and then turned and padded back through the caves, leaving Shell and Snow under the capable paws of Sienna.

xXx

Sienna showed them where to sleep, and Shell felt drowsy as she dropped onto the floor next to Snow. This was the first time they'd had anywhere proper to sleep in…in moons. Slowly, Shell felt herself slipping away in the comfort of the nursery of the enemy.

_Shell blinked open her eyes, surprised she'd woken up so quickly. She took in her surroundings, and found that she was no longer in the cave, but standing at the very top of a mountain, looking down its sheer sides and wondering what it would feel like to slide down its side, closing her eyes as she neared the end…_

_Something touched her shoulder, and she looked around, straight at what she thought was a tree. She thought it was a tree, but she'd never seen one, because she'd lived in the mountains all her life and there were never any trees in the mountains. It was dead, though, because its branches were bare and it was black and gave off an acrid stench, as if a fire had burned it. Around its roots there was a pile of grey ashes, untouched by the gentle white snowflakes that were falling around her._

The tree is burnt.

_It was a voice speaking to her, but there was no one there to speak those words. She was completely and utterly alone on the mountaintop, save the tree, but that wasn't alive._

The tree lives.

_The voice spoke again, but still, there was no one there. _I must be imagining things! _Shell thought, scuffing the snow with her paws. _This is not real. There is no one talking to me now._ She shook her head, closed her eyes, and opened them again, and found she was still on the mountain. _

The tree sees your fear.

_Shell couldn't believe her ears. She hadn't heard a thing._

The tree knows you are afraid.

_The tortoiseshell tried to persuade herself that this wasn't happening._

The tree feels your sorrow.

_She grinded her teeth together, hoping the voice would just go away._

The tree cannot go away.

_She looked around, amazed. Was it the tree who was talking to her? She shook her head. She was imagining things._

The tree _is _here. You cannot move it.

_Shell wanted to scream, or shout, or do something, but her mouth felt like it was glued shut, and she couldn't say a thing._

Do not be afraid, Shell. It's just me.

_And Shell turned around to see a black-and-white she-cat, standing in the place where the tree had been._

**Author's Note: Every time I get five reviews, everyone who reviewed for that particular chapter gets a plushie. Seeing as I got five reviews last chapter, all those people who reviewed get free Marlo plushie. Plus, I've noticed FanFiction do the Error Message again, so for all of you who don't know, just change the word 'property' in the URL to 'content'. Hopefully that helps you!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

_Dimitri & Petal_

Dimitri was scared.

He'd never fought before; he'd never needed to. Now, he decided, was a good time to learn.

What made it worse was he'd just witness Gladewhisper, the best fighter, the cat that never gave in, being taken away by a pale brown tabby tom who was twice her size ― and that was saying something, because Gladewhisper was almost fully grown now, having seen three seasons, and she was a reasonably large cat. Amarthy had been tackled to the ground in almost no time, and was now writhing under two strong toms, who were snarling at him and barring their teeth. He stood in the middle of the battlefield, petrified, and cowered in the shadows, frightened, when the amber tabby she-cat who had brought Gladewhisper down turned to him. She flipped him over as if he was a mouse, and somehow found her way on top of him, glaring down her nose with her disturbingly big amber eyes.

"What's your name, kittypet?" she asked, with a face that told him straight away that she was a no-nonsense kind of cat.

"D-D-Dimitri," he stuttered.

"Dimitri?" Amber curled her lip. "You sure it's not Dmitri?"

"Positive!" Dimitri answered indignantly.

"So you're not a mad kittypet who babbles about his life being so much better when he lived in a different 'country'," she made a face. "Whatever that is, I don't know, and I don't really care. Never have. Hey, Krypt!" she meowed, without stopping when she turned away from him. "What do I do with this one?"

"Whatever you want," a rasping voice replied, very softly ― the battle had died down and all that could be heard was the sound of cats talking quietly to each other, although some were still holding Amarthy down, chatting about something as if the Clan cat wasn't even there.

Amber looked at him as if he was annoying her, her eyes filled with something close to contempt. She then let out a sigh and turned her head away from Dimitri again, one strong paw placed firmly on his chest.

"Stoner, O'Rourke!" she growled.

Stoner and O'Rourke, the cats who were sharing the burden of holding Amarthy down, looked around at exactly the same time, making Dimitri notice how similar they were.

Both toms were strong and muscular, something that seemed like a regulation amongst these cats, and they shared the same flattened, squashed face which looked very similar to one of the dogs that had lived near Dimitri's twoleg nest when he'd been a kittypet. They were actually fairly small in comparison to Amber, and they had long mottled dark grey fur that looked like it had never been washed. Their eyes were small and squashed like their face, a dirty amber colour, and their legs were similar, short and stumpy, very alike to one of the cats he'd known in the twolegplace.

"Lock your cat up," she meowed to Stoner and O'Rourke in an authoritative tone. "Give him a taste of the ruffians behind _those _bars, and he'll be begging to join us in time for dinner."

The two toms grunted, somehow managed to pick up Amarthy between the two of them, whilst Amber leaned down and grabbed Dimitri by the scruff, not bothering to be gentle. The ginger tom winced as her sharp teeth cut his scruff, his green eyes watering with pain, but he refused to show any signs of weakness before Amber.

_Yeah, sure, _a nasty voice in his head said, _as if you haven't already done it_.

Shutting his eyes tightly, Dimitri shut the voice out of his consciousness and tried to think of something that had always made him happy in the past. Faces flashed through his mind ― Jewel, his parents, his sister, his brother, and ― no! He had _not _just thought that. He did _not _like that cat. At all.

Sighing, Dimitri opened his eyes and stared bleakly at the ash-covered street as they scraped at his hind legs; but the pain felt numbed and nonexistent as the world spun before him.

xXx

"Come to let me out, Amber sweetie?"

Dimitri woke up with a jerk, taking in his surroundings. He was no longer hanging from Amber's jaws, but had been dropped on the ground in what appeared to be a cage; except it was barred only on one side and the rest of it was made of the hard stuff he recognised as concrete.

Amber appeared to be gnawing at one of the bars, but it became apparent she was not when something clicked and she stepped back, satisfied. He studied it, but his eyes were still fuzzy and he couldn't focus on it for too long because his head started to hurt.

"Shut it, Flaw," Amber growled; her tailtip twitched angrily, and she padded past his cage towards the one next to him, and from there he lost sight of her because the cages were separated with huge concrete walls.

He caught sight of the cat in the cage opposite him ― a small black-and-white cat was lazing in it, yawning and showing off his stubby teeth. His eyes were a very handsome shade of blue and although he was little, it was clear he would have put up a good fight in battle. A few heartbeats later, Amber passed by his cage, followed by Stoner and O'Rourke, causing Dimitri to wonder what had happened to Amarthy; the black-and-white tom grinned at Amber as she went by, and she spat at him in return. Then there was a loud bang and the three cats' voices died away. The tom caught Dimitri staring at him.

"Hey, you're new around here," he meowed, examining Dimitri. "What did you do? We don't often get new cats in here."

"Trespassed," Dimitri said miserably.

The tom laughed, banging his paw on the floor and making the whole place shake.

"You could do a lot worse than that," he wheezed.

"I'm sure," the ginger cat replied in a doubtful, monotonous way.

"Hey, take me for example ― the name's Flaw, by the way," Flaw smiled as he said this. "I opposed the Betrayal. There ain't a worse crime than that going around these days. Trespassing? Pah. No big deal. Krypt'll get over it in a few moons and who knows, you could train to be in his great army. I also took Amber prisoner. I don't think that was a wise idea, because I was crowfood in the first five minutes I held her captive. Now, that's a memory I wouldn't trade for my freedom."

The black-and-white tom seemed proud of his crimes, or accomplishments, as he saw them. He laughed off Dimitri's 'small' crime of trespassing, and instead entertained Dimitri until he was exhausted, and rested his head on his paws.

"You don't get any exercise around here," Flaw explained. "The best you can do is pace around your cage a couple of times and try to find a way out," he smiled. "But there are none, in any of the cages. I've checked, because I've been moved around so often. These places are even rat-proof, just to ensure your starvation."

Still smiling, Flaw rolled over onto his back.

"If you get bored, just talk to ol' Shackles back there. She'll be perfect company," he added, before he promptly fell asleep.

Confused, Dimitri looked around him. Who was Flaw talking about? There was no one in this cage.

"I'm assuming you're looking for me," a voice, filled with amusement and humour, said.

Slowly, the ginger tom looked around into a pair of dark grey-blue eyes that were glistening in the overlooked shadowy corner of the large, and what had once seemed empty, cage.

xXx

Petal felt very ill at ease padding beside Snitch, knowing what she did.

She felt that now she knew, Snitch knew, and once they were round the corner, cats would pounce on her and call her a traitor, even though she had no one to betray. Yet the leader of these cats himself betrayed someone…so wouldn't it be right to say that he _liked _traitors? She smiled at her own logic, thinking how ridiculous it was. She doubted that she could hide this for long, because somehow, she always managed to spill things ― like the time when Sky had taken Blizzard's catch and eaten it before Blizzard had the chance to show Silver; Sky had told her then, and his secret had most certainly not remained unknown. And the time Blue, Brook's kit and Silver's sister, had told her that she was having Crow's kits but she didn't want to tell him, and somehow, Petal had found herself blurting it out to him as he passed only a few heartbeats later. Everyone in the Tribe of Rushing Water knew that if they had a secret, it wasn't wise to tell her; and if she was the one keeping the secret, she didn't know how long she'd last.

"So this Tribe of Rushing Water ― how many cats are in it?" Snitch asked, trying to keep his voice curious.

Petal stopped short, her eyes growing a dark green.

"Don't get _any _ideas," she hissed, her face inches away from Snitch's, who backed down.

"Whoa, whoa!" the brown tabby tom raised his tail to signify peace. "I was only asking."

Letting out an impatient huff, Petal turned around and kept walking. Everything in this dreary landscape was pretty much the same; old, creaking 'buildings' as Snitch called them, lining the sides of the 'streets'. Snitch had taught her a bit of vocabulary as they walked through the endless maze, some of which she was still struggling to get her tongue around. He seemed to know his way through the streets, but Petal, who'd never been through them before, had little more clue as to where they were going as a blind and deaf mouse. Every twist and turn looked the same to her, with ash, dust and grime filling the spaces between the pebbles, and shards of glass and wood littered the street. The acrid stench of fire was still heavy in the air, even though the fire had happened moons ago, and the ashes had long cooled in their resting place.

Once the tension was out of the air, Snitch glanced sideways at her, judging whether she was in a state of mind to talk to him. He decided she was, but it became clear that she was in no mind to talk to anyone ― _especially_ him.

"You're very loyal to these cats," he said, albeit a little cautiously. "But it seems to me that you appeared to be leaving them. Why is that?"

A whole range of emotions passed over her face; fear, sadness, anger and pain all crossed it in a matter of heartbeats.

"You wouldn't understand," she spat. "I've been through more than you have in all your moons of being alive. I know that all you want to do is defeat any threat to the Guardians of the Night, but first ally them with you before you kill them. You're a cruel cat, Snitch, and all you _want _is power, nothing more. You just want to be a second, but worse, Tigerstar!"

She pushed past him and ran, having no clue where she was going. Tears sprung up in her eyes; all she wanted to do was get away from this place and find her mother and her littermates, and return to ThunderClan and then, maybe then, she'd be able to live in comfort, without the constant worry of her life being in danger, knowing that she was safe and…wanted. She hadn't felt wanted, or _needed_, for that matter, since before her mother fell, and that was a long time ago now. She didn't know how many moons she'd spent feeling like this, alone and unneeded, separated from the reality of the world.

"No," it was Snitch's voice, and she stopped running, already feeling breathless. "I'm no as cruel as you think I am. I want to be happy again ― I want to go back to those days when I had littermates, a sister who loved me and a brother who looked after me. I want to go back to when my mother was still alive, when I had someone to care for me like my father never did. I want to go back to when I was younger, and I didn't have a care in the world; when my biggest worry is how I'd get a she-cat to like me, or how to do better than my brother in a battle. I want this world to feel like it did back then, when I was happy. Now I lead countless cats into an uncertain future, with the knowledge that we could be attacked from the inside at any point in time and never know it. I used to be able to go to sleep every night with the knowledge that I'd wake up in the same place in one piece in the morning. Taking on the responsibilities of leadership isn't just about looking after some cats and keeping them safe. You're letting go of part of your safety that you'll never regain. Becoming a leader means that you have to take the step, and not regret it. But I have, Gladewhisper. I've regretted it so many times."

Petal stared at him, open-mouthed. He seemed to have genuine feeling behind his words, something she'd noticed that most leaders lacked ― the ability to be real again, and not be unemotional and open. It was a rare quality that Snitch possessed.

"It ― my name's Petal," she said quietly, stumbling over her words.

"I knew you were hiding something," Snitch meowed accusingly, but he didn't seem angry.

In fact, he seemed pleased. Pleased, perhaps, that he'd managed to get the weak side out of her that she hardly ever showed to anyone? Pleased, maybe, that she'd fallen straight into his trap?

"Don't make me one of those countless cats," she pleaded. "Let me go and find my mother."

And then Snitch's guard came back up again.

"No," he said stonily, and, like she had done only minutes ago, brushed past her and walked ahead, lost in thought.

xXx

Snitch left her with two overenthusiastic young cats, Shirley, a green-eyed blue-and-white she-cat, and Trapeze, a tom with so many different colours on his pelt that they were uncountable, and uncertain brown-amber eyes. They were training partners, so that meant to train they trained with one another now that they were recognised as fully-fledged fighters. Petal was still struggling to get her head around all the different concepts of the Guardians of the Night, and they had to explain to her a couple of times how it worked, something they were only so happy to do.

"We don't get to do the interesting stuff," Shirley said, with a little bit too much spirit. "The real interesting things only scouts get to do, and senior fighters, so Trapeze and I are really trying hard to get up there. We want to guard those evil cats, and patrol the borders; I really want to meet Sophia! She's the leader of the East Siders, by the way. I can't wait until she's joined us."

Trapeze was just as gushing as Shirley, although the she-cat could certainly outdo him when it came to making up strange things to be excited about. They managed to get into an argument about whether rats or mice were better to eat, and they jumped sides without agreeing with each other. Shirley apparently came out triumphant, arguing that mice were nicer than rats, the opposite of what she'd begun to argue. Petal had no clue as to how she had won, because she'd started to ignore the pair after the first few minutes of their meeting. Finally, catching a glimpse of the moon and how high it was in the sky, she broke their endless chatter with a very polite cough, but when they didn't hear her, she stamped on Trapeze's paw.

"Yes?" Trapeze enquired brightly, as if Petal had not hurt him at all.

"Its moonhigh," the silver tabby answered, her tone quite the contrary of his happy, interested one. "Are we heading towards where you sleep?"

Shirley giggled, finding something in her speech funny. Petal sighed and rolled her eyes.

"We don't sleep anywhere in particular," Shirley explained, still giggling. "Part of our training involves sleeping in places which we wouldn't normally sleep," she leaned towards Petal, her eyes round. "Because one day, we might be able to go into the East Side."

"Wow," Petal said sarcastically, something that neither Shirley nor Trapeze picked up.

"I can't wait!" Trapeze joined in, bouncing up and down joyfully. "Snitch said you were a good fighter. You could come with us and help us!"

"Fat chance," Petal growled under her breath. "I'm outta here as soon as I have the opportunity."

She couldn't believe that Shirley and Trapeze could find so much amusement in such simple things like a 'dustbin' as they termed it; they spent what seemed like hours playing in it and with it, even though they were several moons older than Petal. She yawned, because it was already past moonhigh. She decided she didn't like being in the company of these cats, and took to staring into the distance. At some point, she must have fallen asleep, as she awoke with a jolt, staring into Trapeze's and Shirley's eyes.

"We're going to go and find our group now," Shirley said excitedly, and skipped ahead with Trapeze, leaving the silver tabby to trail after sleepily.

_How can they have so much energy even when they're so tired? _Petal wondered blearily, having to blink her eyes repeatedly just to stay awake. _I should have been asleep long ago, and I am not supposed to be padding around the streets at this time as if there were no tomorrow._

"Hey look, there's Wiley and Ginnie!" Trapeze exclaimed, pointing to two shadowy figures. "Why don't we stay with them tonight?"

"That sounds great," Petal mumbled ― all she wanted to do was sleep.

In a daze, she stumbled over to where Trapeze was pointing, muttered hello to Ginnie, a ginger she-cat with fiery amber eyes, and Wiley, a grey-and-black tom with brown ones, and then collapsed in a none too comfortable place and fell asleep. Wavering on the edge of her consciousness, however, she could hear the conversations of Ginny, Wiley, Trapeze and Shirley.

"Is she okay?" Ginnie asked, with genuine concern in her voice. "Is there anything wrong with her?"

"She's fine," Shirley beamed reassuringly, and then lowered her voice to a whisper, "she's just overly-tired, which is understandable, seeing as she's new around here."

"Oh?" that was Wiley.

"Yes, they found her trespassing," Trapeze said. "Snitch thought she would be a strong addition to us, so he took her to us and told us to take care of her."

"You're taking great care of her now," Wiley snorted.

"We're doing well," Shirley answered stiffly, as if all the bright energy had disappeared. "We don't need your help, Wiley, if that's what you're thinking."

Suddenly, there was an exclamation of pain from Trapeze. Shirley, too, let out a shrill scream, and Petal opened one eye tiredly, and saw that Ginnie and Wiley were attacking Shirley and Trapeze. Shirley seemed a little reluctant to fight, but Ginnie, who was fighting her, wasn't stopping at anything. Then the small blue-and-white she-cat fled, followed by Trapeze, and the thud of their paws gradually died away as they became further away.

And only a little while later, Petal heard their voices, floating dreamily around her.

**Author's Note: This took me a long time to write. I got a bit stuck when it came to writing about Snitch and Petal, but once we met Shirley and Trapeze it was easier. I got five reviews last chapter! *throws Cherrypaw plushies in the air* Keep it up, guys!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

_Marlo_

"Marlo," an almost accusing growl made him start to his paws quickly.

The brown-and-white tom looked around, and found himself staring into the eyes of Blaze, and quickly recoiled, head bowed in respect. He'd never particularly liked Blaze; the ginger tom was rough in both ways and words, and had little feeling or thought for cats other than himself, besides his mate ― the second one, that was, because the first one, Whisker, had met an unfortunate death in the mountains, and Marlo had always been sure that Blaze was somehow involved. He couldn't help not liking the other tom, even though they were cousins

"Sir," he said drearily, dreading the day ahead.

Sure, this would be his first time out of the mountains in _seasons_, but they were marching to their deaths. This new Storm didn't know anything about battle tactics, and nor did Blaze; not that he really cared, because as soon as they got there he would change sides. The rest of these cats would be either killed, although he was pretty sure the new ideology decreed that killing was morally wrong, and could not be committed, or they would be kept wherever all the other cats had been put, a place which Marlo had no idea where it was.

"Are you coming, Marlo?" Blaze meowed sharply.

He wasn't angry ― Marlo knew his cousin better. Blaze was unhappy about something, but he wasn't going to press him any further. Instead, he padded out of the cave and into the chilling winds of the mountains, which made his thoughts revert to the two solemn she-cats, barely older than three seasons, who had followed him quietly through the cave with no question as to where they were going. They were seemingly accepting their fate, and somehow, he knew, they were connected to Storm, the first leader of the Guardians of the Night, but in no way the best. Storm had overpowered his son's mind, even though he was dead, and was now speaking through him. He shivered. How horrible, how _strange _that would be. Even if you tried really hard, you wouldn't be able to say what you wanted; and then you'd watch yourself hurt the cats you loved in every way possible, until you'd seen and said so many bad things that you lost the will to keep on struggling.

"Hey," Sienna's soft meow caught his attention, and he turned towards the blue-grey she-cat with a small, sad smile.

There were tears glistening in her blue eyes, and she moved towards him suddenly, pressing herself against him as if she never wanted him to leave her. He closed his eyes, treasuring the moment, her warm pelt at his side, her breath brushing past his soft ear fur.

"Come back," she whispered in his ear.

"I will," he promised. "I'll come back and everything will be better. Storm will be dead, and we'll go and live where we were always supposed to live, with the new Guardians of the Night. We'll have a better life, and then all are kits will become fighters and be able to do things with their life."

"I know," Sienna said softly, pulling away and looking him in the eye. "But don't wish that Storm will be dead, you must wish that he is gone. Those cats you took me, Snow and Shell ― they really need their brother back. Like I need you, Marlo, they need him. He's the cat they've always relied on to keep them safe, the cat they've always looked up to, and now ―" she shook her head "― and now they're alone."

"They've lived here all their lives, Sienna," he reproached her gently. "They know how to look after themselves."

"Their mother was Falcer, Marlo," she said protectively, with a faint growl in her voice. "You know just as well as I do that she never wanted Storm as her mate. Those two cats and that black tabby tom, Thunder, are the kits that she said the Tribe of Rushing Water ― the mountain cats ― took away from her. That isn't really what happened though; she gave them to a cat she knew was expecting kits, who said she'd raise them as her own. Her name was Silver, and she was a good and decent cat. She had her own kits, five of them, and she took Shell, Snow and their brother in and raised them as if they were her own. She was from this other place, though, not these mountains, in a forest which had groups of cats known as _Clans_, and so they were returning there. But then everything went wrong, and she and two of her kits fell into the abyss that we found before we came to this place. One of the other kits then left and they haven't seen her since, and then the remaining two of Silver's litter fell into the very same abyss ― they were going in circles, you see. These cats have been wondering the mountains alone and terrified, without the guidance of the cat they called their mother. They can't survive on their own. They need some cat to look after them."

"So you're suggesting you take care of them," Marlo narrowed his eyes.

"Yes," Sienna looked at him, her eyes soft. "Please, Marlo. They're good cats."

He sighed, looking at his paws.

"I know they are, it's just ―"

"Marlo, we're going," Blaze intruded. "Sienna; get out of here."  
The blue-grey she-cat looked at him pleadingly, but he stood in front of Marlo with a hard, stony face, and eventually she turned away and padded slowly back towards the cave.

"No time for sentimental talk, Marlo," the ginger tom said sharply, deliberately whisking his tail past Marlo's face in an attempt to annoy the other tom.

Shaking his head, Marlo glared after Blaze and trudged through the belly-high snow, using the tracks of other cats to avoid the energy that he needed to save in order to survive. He knew that some cats wouldn't survive this night.

And for once he felt strangely alone; he'd never been a terribly popular cat amongst his fellow fighters, but never had he been unpopular, and he was surprised that he found no one to talk to. To tell the truth, he was bored of this, having done it so many times in the past few seasons that even imagining coming back to the caves and finding Sienna there became boring and even a laborious task.

"Thinking about coming back home, eh?"

Marlo looked around in surprise. It was Thatcher, Cadence's brother, one of the she-cats who'd been under Star's command before the events of yesterday. He was a little bit smaller than Marlo, but he looked pained and over everything, and his eyes held seasons that he had not experienced.

"Yeah, I guess," Marlo smiled weakly, making an effort to cheer Thatcher up.

Thatcher, however, looked no more happy or excited than he had a few heartbeats ago. His dusty grey-brown pelt and eyes which were no colour in particular were a stark contrast to the side of his pelt that was cruelly scarred from the fire four seasons ago. He was an amiable enough cat, but he wasn't very well-liked because of his burns, something that most cats seemed to have an aversion to. The poor cat was talked about more than he was talked to, but Marlo saw no reason why he shouldn't talk to Thatcher, who spent most of their long training sessions alone. They had never talked very much before, only when they'd needed to, and ever since Dusty, Thatcher's brother, who had rescued him from the flames, had died, Thatcher became more withdrawn and less talkative.

"I'm not," Thatcher answered; his eyes told the whole story.

That place ― the place they had called home for so long was shrouded in memories, and not particularly good ones. Memories that were so painful that no one wanted to even so much as glance back; for that place, that place had so many blackened memories and horrible remembrances that no one _really _wanted to go back. And Thatcher must have it hardest of all, because that was the place that he'd received his disfiguring burns, the ones that had turned his life upside down. Marlo sighed.

"I know," he said softly. "I don't think anyone wants to go back."

Thatcher looked at him, surprised. There were seventeen of them treading on the crumbling, precarious ledge, carefully averting their gazes from the leering drop below. Most of them strongly believed in Storm's ideology, and so, Thatcher obviously thought, that would make them want to go back and claim what was 'rightfully' theirs.

"And why's that?" the greyish tom asked coolly, with an air that seemed slightly…_uninterested_?

Marlo narrowed his eyes, immediately suspicious. He'd thought he could trust Thatcher, but that wasn't happening; perhaps Blaze had asked the new leader whether he could get someone to investigate Marlo, because someone had witnessed his so-called suspicious behaviour. Thatcher had probably been promised a she-cat of his choosing, a crude reward that had been very popular in the height of Storm's reign. But now that he was sort of back, wouldn't that make that reward plausible?

"You're under orders," Marlo accused him lightly, trying to keep all hints of accusation out of his voice.

"I am," Thatcher replied with a dignified nod of his head. "I don't think you understand it, Marlo. Ever since that fire…" he shivered, closing his eyes, but still padded on. "My whole life was ruined. No one wanted to so much as look at me any more or even talk to me. There was no chance I was going to get a mate, especially since Storm's regime had failed. When this new Storm came, it was like everything I'd ever hoped for, the purpose in my life, had returned also. These burns hurt, Marlo, they hurt me every day, even though they happened seasons ago, and the first thing I remember each morning and the last thing I think at night is the fire, and the pain and torment of me being burnt. I don't want to wake up that way any more. My life wasn't meant to be like that."

Marlo stared. Then he blinked.

"Don't do it this way," he begged Thatcher, truly concerned for the other tom.

Thatcher just stared at him, as if he had said something completely alien to him. Marlo knew that to some cats, their loyalty to Storm _was _their life; and it was life they'd die to defend. Obviously, Thatcher was one of these cats, and it was most probably spurred on by his horrible injury. _And it's all Storm's fault, _Marlo thought angrily, _if Thatcher hadn't held loyalty above all else, he wouldn't be like this. But this is probably what Storm wants._

The dusty brown tom looked around himself absently, and then leaned closer towards Marlo, desperation suddenly clouding his eyes.

"I don't want to, Marlo," he whispered. "I promise you, I'll tell Storm that you have done nothing wrong and that Blaze was mistaken."

He slipped ahead, and Marlo caught sight of the disfiguring burns on Thatcher's left side, the raw pink flesh making him wince. The dusty brown tom walked with a limp, his whole body tilting to one side as he walked, making Marlo's pity for him increase.

A sudden thought struck his mind, and he dropped back so that he was walking beside Blaze, all the while keepinga sharp eye on the drop below.

"Hello, Blaze," he meowed.

Blaze returned his greeting with a curt nod, although his eyes remained fixed straight ahead, staring at the shimmering blue mountain ranges on the horizon. His muscular body swung methodically side to side as he walked, but his head was still, and his eyes upon the distant horizon. His long claws, which had obviously not been sharpened for a while, scraped against the slippery ice beneath their feet so he was able to hold on. Marlo, too, was doing something similar with his unsheathed claws, although his had a tendency to stick in the ice rather than skim over it. It was easy to tell they were related; they shared the same amber eyes and broad faces, although Marlo's held a softer look when compared to his cousin's.

"Are you alright?"

Blaze stayed silent for a while, and then turned his head towards Marlo with a glare.

"Alright?" he thundered. "_Alright_? This strange cat turns up, and forces me to keep my sister a prisoner, and takes away all the power I ever had, and you ask me whether I'm _alright_? Seriously, Marlo, do you _think _I'm alright?"

Marlo gave Blaze a sympathetic look, but Blaze would have none of it and looked away, narrowing his eyes as if he didn't want his cousin's sympathy. And then it struck Marlo.

"Wait, did you say Storm _forced _you to keep your sister prisoner?"

"Yes," Blaze meowed cautiously. "It's like he takes over your head, and forcesyou to say something or do something, and you can't control it or change it afterwards. He makes you move your foot, even if you don't want to. Right now, he could kill you. He's _alive, _Marlo, in a way that I'm not sure how. He's alive in a way that makes him have such a strong will, as if all his energy and strength is in his mind, and there's no way you can overcome him. If you remember, Storm was hardly ever beaten in battle; except by the Betrayer and that silver she-cat who broke his leg. She was the death of him ― if his leg hadn't been broken, he wouldn't have fallen to death in that abyss and died. And there's no way that we could match either the Betrayer or that she-cat in will and strength, even if we tried."

An icy chill swept over Marlo at the mention of the silver she-cat; the adoptive kits of whom Sienna, his mate, had wanted to take care of. Mentally, Marlo cursed himself. When had he become stupid enough so as to let his mate adopt Storm's kits? He couldn't believe himself.

The two cousins walked together in silence, until Marlo felt the strength ebbing out of his limbs, and he struggled to keep up with the ginger tom; Blaze purposely slowed down for him, pretending that he wasn't, so that he wouldn't make Marlo feel bad.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Blaze meowed quietly. "I didn't mean to snap ― I was just a little upset, I guess."

"Yeah," Marlo agreed, although he hadn't been listening and wasn't quite sure what he was agreeing to.

However, it seemed like the right answer, and it made Blaze slow down even more for Marlo, who gratefully but silently acknowledged the other cat's support.

Finally, Marlo couldn't take it, and he stumbled down the treacherous mountain path; it was so dark that he could hardly see anything except the eerie glow of cats' eyes, Blaze's amber ones standing out among the shades of green and blue. _Mine must look like that too_, he realised, remembering very abruptly that his cousin had the same eye s as him.

"Careful," Blaze said, pulling him up by the scruff in a none too gentle way.

Marlo opened his mouth to thank the other tom, but decided against it when Blaze turned away, expecting no thanks. He gave a fleeting smile, which quickly disappeared as the exhaustion took hold again. He sank to the ground, wondering why he was the one that felt so weak ― why wasn't everyone else struggling to take a pawstep, or even stand up? Blaze seemed quite indifferent to it this time, not noticing that the brown-and-white tom was beyond exhaustion; that was, until Marlo realised that the ginger cat was trying to catch the attention of stony-eyed Storm. When that failed, he yelled above the drill of the wind.

"Storm, we need to stop!" he shouted, but the black tabby tom merely twitched an ear.

Storm kept on walking, and Marlo's hate for the tom increased; unlike Storm, they were actually physically living, and they were the ones that felt each pawstep drain their strength, instead of being a controlling power that oversaw a body. _No_, Marlo thought bitterly, _Storm is one in a billion._

"Keep walking," Blaze hissed in his ear, dragging him up again.

Marlo's eyelids fluttered sleepily, Blaze's words becoming long and drawn out in his mind as he slid down again. He felt the now familiar sensation of his cousin's sharp teeth roughly in his scruff, but despite his efforts, Marlo stumbled tiredly. This time, Blaze didn't bother to drag him back up.

xXx

Marlo was woken by a shaft of sunlight hitting his face, as the sun found its way up through the welcoming hazy red dawn.

He blinked his eyes open and leapt to his paws, only to find that the rest of the group were still sleeping, apart from Storm, who was standing alarmingly still a little way ahead. He realised with great joy that they were at the bottom of the mountain, or quite near the bottom; no cats had wanted to sleep on the sharp rocks that surrounded the base of it. Stretched out before them was a field, its green grass drooping with the heavy weight of the dew, and, milling around not far off there were the fluffy white animals he recognised as sheep. A warm, gentle spring breeze blew towards him, catching up the scents of the flowers that littered the field, spots of colour in a sea of green.

In the distance the tall buildings of East Broadhinny rose before them in all their magnificence, nothing but watery grey shadows with flickering white lights. Clustered around the base were the houses, and each tall building had a whole group to overshadow. Then, rather slowly, the buildings became shorter, and more spread out, opening into what Marlo knew had to be the West Side. He frowned. Quite a few of them must have been destroyed by the fire, because he hadn't remembered it being that bleak. Of course, he hadn't quite seen the extent of the fire, and how the twolegs had failed to put it out ― they themselves could not fight through the choking smoke and burning flames; and they knew that from experience. Somehow, the Guardians of the Night, the new ones, had survived through all of it.

"Enjoying the feel of spring?" Blaze's voice cut through his thoughts.

"Yes," Marlo said, defensively. "What else would I be doing?"

"I don't know, practising battle moves on the sheep?" the ginger tom snorted, coming to stand beside Marlo.

The brown-and-white tom hit him with the base of his toughened paw, and was a little disappointed when Blaze didn't even flinch.

"You have a lot to learn," Marlo replied. "Sheep fur gets caught in my claws."

Around them, the rest of the cats were waking up, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed Thatcher rising to his paws painfully, struggling to stay up. He quickly averted his gaze and concentrated on the immobile figure of Storm, who had not moved once since Marlo had woken up. Suddenly, his broad shoulders moved, and he turned to face the cats.

"Today, we will fight," he meowed, his amber gaze falling upon every cat; Marlo inadvertently shuddered when it rested on him. "Today, we will take back what is rightfully ours. Today, we will recreate the real Guardians of the Night!"

They all cheered ― Marlo felt forced to ― and then set off at a quick pace. All his energy was now restored, and the previous night's tiredness now seemed like a distant memory, a faded dream.

His paws thudded over the rocks, and he tried not to wince as his paws were cut and scraped even more as he ran, as showing any sign of weakness would mean he'd probably be pounced on by Storm, or one of the cats who had been a scout before the Betrayal ― they still held a significantly more important position than Marlo, who'd only been a senior fighter, and they could boss around the senior fighters and the junior fighters around as much as they wanted to. He sighed. Revisiting Broadhinny might not be the best idea, because it might stir up old fights, old orders of important. In the mountains all that had fallen away; and they'd all relied on each other to do things, and the formality there had once been wasn't there any more. Now they were out of the mountains, he guess, Blaze would became the most important cat again – the leader of the scouts, the one that Storm trusted the most and relied on at every turn. The strategist, the commander; Blaze was an unstoppable force when it came to fighting, although that wouldn't aid them this time, because this time, it was sixteen cats against who knows how many. They wouldn't have turned soft, he knew as much, because they had the constant threat of the East Siders – he knew of them because Blaze had sent scouts out every moon, and once or twice Marlo had been a member of the scout parties.

"Ah, Broadhinny," Blaze sighed, his eyes glazed over as he stared at the shadowy shapes of the buildings.

The dawn was slowly falling away, giving way to a pale blue, cloudless sky. There was no chance of it raining today.

And, as they slowed to a walk, there was an intake of breath from all the cats; they were about to set foot on Broadhinny soil once more.

**Author's Note: Next chapter, I promise you a cliffie, because this chapter didn't have a cliffie! Five reviews again, and sorry for the late update. Let's keep those reviews coming!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

_Petal_

It seemed that dawn never came upon the West Side of Broadhinny; that the whole of the West Side was constantly under the oppressive grey shadow of the sky, as if twilight had a permanent hold over it and was less than willing to let go. Over night, smoke had found its way into the air, thick and choking, and Petal was rather curious as to where it came from.

One pale blue eye opened up, and then she closed it again, before opening both eyes and propping her chin up on her silver paws. Ginnie and Wiley were still asleep, their pelts rising up and down methodically – a light grey haze touched the she-cat's pelt, and Petal wondered groggily whether it was sunlight. Wiley's grungy fur blended in more with his surroundings; it was almost impossible to see his grey-and-black pelt, especially in this poor light. She could imagine him being a good scout. Then, without warning, Wiley's form moved and he stepped lightly to his paws, shaking his pelt out and leaving Petal wondering how he could get up so quickly. He lowered his head towards Ginnie's and stretched out one grey paw. The ginger she-cat jumped up even more quickly than Wiley, making Petal even more astonished than she already was.

"Looks like she isn't awake," Ginnie whispered, and Petal hastily closed her eyes.

"She sure is pretty," that was Wiley for sure.

Petal would have hit him if she had the opportunity. No one called _her_ pretty and got away with it – there was a muffled yelp and a scuffle and she decided that Ginnie had got her own back on the tom. She'd live with that.

"Well, are you going to wake her up or not?" Wiley asked Ginnie.

Petal tensed as she heard heavy pawsteps coming her way, her claws sliding out instinctively, but she forced herself to relax. _They don't think I'm awake, _she reminded herself, _and that's good, because I need the element of surprise_.

As soon as Ginnie's ginger paw touched her side, she sprung up, tumbling over the other she-cat and stirring up the dust, and then finally landing with a decided thud on the cobbled street, with Petal pinning the ginger she-cat down. Wiley, who had padded away a little distance, turned around at the disturbance. He made a move to walk towards them, but Petal stopped him with a hiss, pressing her claws hard against Ginnie's skin; small red claw marks pricked up on the cat's throat, and internally, Petal winced. Silver had taught them that killing a cat was morally wrong.

"Take one more step and she's dead," the silver tabby said coldly. "Now, listen very carefully. I'm going to run away, and you're not going to follow. Tell Snitch – or whoever you report to – that I knocked you both out and you can't remember anything after that. Is that clear?"

Beneath her, Ginnie nodded, her eyes stretched wide in fear; Wiley took a little longer to catch on, and actually seemed to have the nerve to step closer. At this action, Petal raised her paw threateningly, and he backed away a bit, nodding.

"It's clear," Wiley responded, his brown eyes flickering slightly, and she knew at once he was lying.

As soon as she turned around, he would tackle her off Ginnie and report her to Snitch – but that wasn't going to happen. Not while she was around.

"Alright, then," she said. "I'm sure you'll comply with these terms. Lose yourself in the streets; when you become back, Ginnie will be right here, or she might have followed your scent trail. Either way, you'll find her, so that means you can go. Now," she added, jerking her head in the direction of the open street.

Hesitating, Wiley took a step to the left, in the direction of the street. When Petal gave him a fierce glare, he retreated into the street, leaving Ginnie alone with Petal. The ginger she-cat had given up struggling long ago, but she started again when Petal raised her paw, made a show of sheathing her claws, and then slammed it into the side of the other cat's head.

It didn't take long for the blow to take affect – Ginnie's eyelids drooped, and the world spun in her vision, until everything went black. She was unconscious.

Then, seeming almost satisfied, Petal slipped away, winding her way through the streets, having no clue whatsoever where she was going. But she was free of them, and that was a start.

And then it struck her; the feeling of being alone was upon her again, digging its claws into her slowly. She'd never liked to admit it, but it was her only weakness – the fear of being alone. She knew it wasn't a warrior-like instinct, nor was she proud of it, but she couldn't run away from it. When she was alone, when she had no-one to watch her back, she felt as if something or someone could leap out of the shadows at any moment.

She'd been glad when Dimitri and Galestorm had joined her in the mountains; glad when Snitch had assigned other cats to look after her; glad when she was a kit that she always had one sibling, or her mother, with her. She stopped; her head hung low, her claws buried in between the cobbles of the street. She couldn't believe that after all this, she couldn't move on, even though she wanted to escape. How had she survived in the mountains? Why had she even separated from her littermates anyway? Was it –

"Petal?" a voice asked in disbelief; and for once, Petal was glad that Snitch was there.

Turning around to face the pale brown tabby, she smiled grimly, her eyes dimming to a dull shade of blue. She moved towards him, knowing what he was going to say and do already. He opened his mouth to speak, but thought better of it and shut it again, throwing a sideways glance at her.

"Who teaches Shirley and Trapeze?" she broke the silence.

"I – well, no-one does. I mean, I used to, but ever since they became fighters…" Snitch trailed off.

"They need teaching again. They couldn't hold their own against Ginnie and Wiley," Petal said bluntly.

"Oh?" Snitch inquired. "You've met them, have you?"

"Why would I be speaking about them if I've never met them?" she said, frustrated. "_Obviously_, Snitch. I wonder why you're second-in-command of the Guardians of the Night."

Snitch looked at her doubtfully. Petal managed to be so annoying, but at the same time, there was something about her that drew him in, made him not want to turn away from her. He guessed that she hadn't really hit it off with Trapeze or Shirley; they weren't really her type. He'd met Ginnie and Wiley before – they were fiercely defensive, eager to fight, and they often ambushed and attacked other members of the Guardians of the Night. In manner, they were the complete opposite of Shirley and Trapeze, but their enthusiasm to fight could be compared to Shirley and Trapeze's all-round enthusiasm. He could understand why Petal had wanted to get away from them.

"You have nothing to say to that," Petal meowed, a queer smile curling around her mouth. "Do you agree with me?"

"No!" he said. "Of course I don't!"

"I _so _believe that," she mewed sarcastically.

She halted at the sound of one of the garbage cans crashing to the ground, spinning around and unsheathing her claws automatically. Snitch turned more slowly and with less polish, keeping his claws sheathed, and glanced at Petal; her eyes were scanning the area, and then she fixated her eyes on a toppled can. Slowly, she placed one paw in front of another and slid to the ground, into something that looked very like a hunting crouch. She slid across the cobbles in absolute silence, carefully placing paw after paw down upon the undulating ground. Snitch had never seen a cat move so quickly and silently across the streets before, and he made a note to get her to teach him.

Then, as quick as lightning, she pounced on the garbage can. There was a scuffling and a rattling, and then Petal was hopping from one paw to another, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

"Uh…Petal?" Snitch asked.

"What?" she snapped, not averting her eyes from her swiftly moving paws.

"What _exactly _are you doing?"

There was no answer to that. Instead, her ever-changing eyes remained stuck and focused upon whatever she was doing, her paws a blur of silver. Suddenly, light caught her silver pelt, and Snitch swore that only very briefly, a faint, unnatural gleam came upon it, and then that gleam dimmed. He looked up to see the sun rising above Broadhinny – it had been a long time since its rays had graced the distant shadows of this alley. In fact, Snitch squinted at the sudden light, being unused to it. He hadn't been in the East Side since the Betrayal; and ever since the fire, it had been significantly murkier in the West Side.

Tentatively, he stepped into the light, and memories came flooding back; walking through the East Side before the Betrayal, as a junior fighter, looking for cats to recruit; letting a kittypet go as she cowered behind her fence, looking up at him with pleading eyes; running from the fire as it started, the one that he'd help start; the yowl of pain from Krypt as he didn't run away fast enough; turning back to help his friend; all those memories that had been locked within him for moon after moon.

Something hit him hard on the side of the head and he scrambled out of the sunlight. He put his paw protectively over the place whatever it was had hit him.

"What was that for?" he hissed, rubbing his head vigorously.

"It's a rat," Petal said slowly, intending to make a point.

Snitch looked down at what had hit him. It most certainly was a rat, lying strewn across the floor in the sunlight, reeking of the charred garbage can and its ashen content that wasn't even close to being food. He nodded, agreeing with her.

"It's a rat," he meowed. "So?"

"So?" she spat. "So? Is that the best you can come up with? What do you eat around here?"

His look said it all, and she rolled her eyes and stared, hard, at the floor. Rats were crowfood – that's what Silver had taught her. _Never _eat a rat, unless the situations urgent; and even then, stop and consider the merits of eating it, and the likelihood of catching a sickness from the rat.

"Rats aren't food," she said finally.

"They are here," Snitch replied, hardly wanting to meet her gaze. "If you live here, it's the only food, unless you want to risk going into the East Side."

"Which no-one's been brave enough to do," Petal finished for him. "Don't you think the two groups could come to some sort of _agreement_?"

"No!" his eyes flashed dangerously. "The East Siders and the Guardians of the Night are two separate groups; all the East Siders want is our territory."

"And all you want is their territory," she hissed, once again finishing the sentence that had been left hanging in the air. "How are you any better than them?"

"Because –"

"You're not, Snitch!" she said, an emotion close to desperation slipping onto her face. "You just _think _you are, because you think you're on the right side. What if there _is _no right side? What if there's only a pointless battle between the two groups which never ends, never has a winner? What if there isn't supposed to be a winner? What if you die and leave the Guardians of the Night in the same position it was when you became second-in-command? What if this is what happens day after day every single season of your life? And all you'll have to show for it is _nothing_, absolutely nothing? Every cat is born to do something, and all you'll have done is while away the seasons in the same place!"

Petal stopped and looked away, slightly ashamed, and blinked back the tears that clouded her eyes. Snitch, on the other hand, looked confused, as if her passionate speech had made no sense to him.

"You don't seem to understand," the pale brown tom said. "This is my life; this is what I was born to do. I was meant to do this."

"Snitch, you have to let me go," she begged, her voice barely above a whisper. "I have to save my family."

And then, he did something that Petal would always remember. He shook his head.

xXx

They walked in silence; Snitch attempted to start up a conversation several times, but Petal point blank refused to even say anything, and stalked forwards stonily, sticking to the sunlit areas which Snitch oh-so-casually avoided. It wasn't that he was afraid of the sunlight – it was more that he hadn't liked the memories that he'd brought back when he'd done it earlier on, and she had obviously realised that he didn't like the sunlight and stuck in it whenever possible, always avoiding his searching gaze. Sometimes, he'd feel her eyes on his pelt, and he'd look around, but she'd glance away before he caught sight of her eyes. Every time, he was met by the back of her sleek silver head, which she tossed every now and then out of habit.

He actually started to wonder why he hadn't let her go, but he knew that to that, he had no answer. Maybe he didn't think she'd be able to survive, but, if she'd done what she'd claimed to, facing the small town, or Little Broadhinny, would be nothing compared to the harsh climate of the mountains. Maybe it was because she was the closest thing he had to a friend – he and Krypt were friends, but all the time they were together they focused on their plans to retake the East Side and running the Guardians of the Night. Amber was senseless and selfish, and she hadn't cared for anyone when it turned out that her brother, sister and cousin turned out to be traitors to the Betrayal. The leader of the senior fighters, Thorn, _seemed _tough and independent, but really, she was unstable and shaken by the events of the Betrayal. She'd been forced to kill her own brother, and that had really taken its toll on her. The commander of the junior fighters was too below his level for him to socialise with – and Willow, the overseer of the cats learning herb lore, was…well, strange. She took orders from nobody and defied Krypt at the highest level, but she still kept her marginally senior position. Her eyes disturbed him, too, but that brought him back to Petal; no-one else's eyes were so odd that they made him actually physically scared, as if he wanted to bolt away from her as if she were a threat.

"You're thinking."

Snitch looked up, dragging himself away from his thoughts. He met Petal's level stare and flinched, and then inwardly reprimanded himself for doing so. His eyes searched elsewhere, and he decided on her front paws, only to look up again, into her now chillingly ice blue eyes, when she spoke.

"What, now _you've _given up speaking to me?"

The tom shook his pelt out, as if to get rid of invisible drips of water. He heard her sigh, and assumed that she rolled her eyes and tossed her head, before hearing the thud of her paws on the cobbles.

"I haven't," he meowed, a frown passing over his face.

"Ah, so _now _you talk," she said, without looking at him.

"I believe the expression you're searching for is 'I'm sorry'."

"Am I?"

"Yes, you are."

"And why would I want to use those words?"

"It seems apparent to me that you are sorry."

"Why does it seem apparent?"

"Stop answering everything I have to say with a question!"

"Why?" she challenged him; narrowing his eyes, Snitch decided to let it go.

Suddenly, yells and shrieks came from up ahead of them, and the two glanced at each other and broke into a run, swerving through the streets and stopping in a large open area, surrounded by a large, blocky building, with only a narrow pathway breaking it.

Cats were filling the area, surrounding a group of about two dozen cats who were snarling, hissing and spitting, lashing out at anyone who came too close to them. Snitch immediately took charge, yelling out orders to cats who nodded meekly and ran away to do his bidding. The Guardians of the Night formed a defensive circle around the cluster of cats in the centre, and for once, Petal witnessed the full strength of the West Side. There were so many cats, even with not all of them there. Curious, she leaned close to Snitch.

"Who are they?" she whispered.

"They're the former Guardians of the Night, the ones that we turned on during the Betrayal," Snitch answered. "It appears that they seem to think that they could defeat us with two dozen cats."

"Cats do desperate things in dire situations," Petal shrugged.

But Snitch's attention had turned away from her now – and he was standing almost on his claws and leaning over the cats in front of him.

"Well, well, well," he meowed. "Looks like Storm's back from the dead."

Petal followed his gaze and recoiled in horror. Shouldering her way through the crowd, she caught sight of Amber and another she-cat dragging a black tabby tom who was writhing in agony, across the cobbled ground of the square. She knew that there was only one thing she could do, even though it was incredibly, _incredibly_ stupid.

"Stop!" she yelled, making it to the front of the crowd. "That's my brother!"

And slowly, all the cats in the square turned to look at her.

**Author's Note: Sorry it took so long! I hope you like the chapter, and remember to review. A free Amber plushie to all those that do.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

_Petal_

"Traitor!"  
Snitch was glaring at her, meeting her gaze without hesitation, even though her eyes were burning blue and her mother's could not match their intensity. But, to her surprise, no cat leapt at her, or dragged her away; they just stared at her in amazement, open-mouthed and shocked. And then Petal snapped – this was the cat that hadn't allowed to her to get away and bring her family. This was the cat who had kept her here for no apparent reason, maybe to exercise his powers as second-in-command, a position he didn't deserve.

"But I had no-one to betray," she hissed, returning his glare, her claws sliding out.

Without further warning, she pounced on him, pinning him to the ground easily because of the element of surprise, even though he was twice her size. He didn't even attempt to struggle; his blank stare sent shivers up her spine, and it appeared he was frozen in time.

"You betrayed me," Snitch replied.

Petal narrowed her eyes and tossed her head, looking at the cats around her. They hadn't moved an inch since she'd first announced that Thunder was her brother, and the black tabby tom was just hanging limply from a grey-and-white she-cat's jaws, his limbs stretched out lifelessly in front of him.

"You've known me for a day," she growled. "No, less than a day; did you really, honestly think that my loyalties lay with you, not to my family? Do you even _have _a family to betray? Do you think I become loyal to anyone and everyone that captures me or keeps me with them? Do you think I'm the cat that lets herself be captured when there's a chance I could escape? Do you think I trust you, or even like you, because you let me live?" she snorted derisively. "I'd rather die than be cooped up here all my life."

"Petal…" Thunder's soft, weakened voice interrupted her, his amber eyes sad and dull. "Petal, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," she meowed. "It was my fault – all of this is my fault. I should never have left!"

"I hate to interrupt this touching reunion," Snitch snarled, hauling himself up and flipping Petal over easily, as if she were no more than a kit.

Yet Petal had intentionally let herself go limp, and looked pleadingly up at Snitch, whispering one word over and over.

"Please," she whispered. "Please."

"Please what?" Snitch questioned, and then raised his head to speak to the other cats. "What are you all staring at? Get to work!"

The cats suddenly came back into reality, their mouths shut and they scrambled to their places, easily swatting the former Guardians of the Night down. Petal watched all this go by in a blur, all the time staring at Thunder. Their eyes met more than once, but always, Thunder broke it by looking away.

"Is he really your brother? Are you Storm's daughter?" Snitch had now lowered his head so it was less than a whiskerlength away from hers.

Petal narrowed her eyes.

"Do I look like I am?" she challenged.

"Answer the question!" he spat.

"Why? Why should I, Snitch? Or you'll kill me?" she laughed hollowly. "You know what, I don't really care."

Snitch cuffed her sharply on the face, and a red line appeared down the side of it, making her silver fur clump together, joined together quickly by the blood that spilled out of the cut.

"Stoner, O'Rourke!"

Two identical toms bounded over, their squashed grey muzzles and amber eyes more than slightly disturbing. The two of them exchanged looks and Snitch stepped off Petal. Instantly, she was hauled onto her feet and half-pushed half-shoved over to the block-like building that surrounded the square. As they neared it, a large metal door became clear in her eyesight, with three well-muscled cats guarding it, a mean look in their beady eyes. They let Stoner and O'Rourke past without question, and she could swear that she heard them laughing as she was brought past. She was confronted by rows and rows of metal-barred concrete cages, each separated by a large concrete wall. The two grey toms grunted, as if communicating in their own language, and then one of them disappeared from view (she had no idea which one was Stoner and which one was O'Rourke), whilst the other one just looked at her, and then the other reappeared again and they dragged her into a cage. She heard something click as they left, and didn't bother wondering what it was.

"Now you're a pretty one," a voice drawled.

Her ears pricked up and she looked around the cage for the source of the voice, but all she saw were long, dark shadows.

"Yoo-hoo! Over here!"

Petal found herself looking at a small black-and-white tom, his eyes half-closed and his paws folded neatly over one another, his chin propped upon them. She snorted, unimpressed, and turned away.

"Hey, do your eyes always do that?" he persisted.

"Do what?" she asked, pretending to look alarmed, and then glared at him. "Of course they always do that, idiot!"

"You were going to use my name, but you don't know it," the tom taunted her, rolling over and yawning lazily, and then rolling back over again.

She shrugged and rolled her eyes, trying to ignore him.

"Hey – hey, Gladewhisper, is that you?"

"Dimitri?" she asked, astounded.

"I'm in the cage next to you!" Dimitri exclaimed, and she could hear the thump of his paws as he hit the wall.

The black-and-white tom, however, just raised one eyebrow doubtfully, not shifting his head from his crossed paws; as if he knew there was no way out of there, as if he'd already tried every single way.

"Don't get your hopes up, kid," he meowed. "If you get past the bars, you have the guards to worry about. It's easier when they're she-cats, of course –"

"Are you saying that she-cats are weak?" Petal started to her paws, her eyes blazing angrily.

The black-and-white tom raised his tail in truce, but she calmed down only the slightest, the thrill of battle still rising in her body. A smile curled on his lips, revealing blunt yellowed fangs that glimmered yellowy-white when they caught the light. It touched his eyes, but not in a way that made him look kind – rather the opposite of kind, cold and ever so slightly deranged. Petal decided that he _was _slightly mad, and she couldn't blame him – who wouldn't be, if they'd been locked up in this place for too long?

"Calm down, sweetheart," the black-and-white tom purred, still grinning.

When Petal hissed, he retreated slightly into the shadows of his cage, even though they were in opposite cages and there were several foxlengths between the two sets of bars. Slightly snake-like, she observed quite unconsciously, with the speed and voice to match.

Dimitri had been silent throughout this exchange, keeping out of the conversation and listening instead, his ear pressed against the wall, even though it would have been more logical to just listen to them outright; perhaps he was a little _afraid _of what they had to say to each other. After all, they weren't exactly the perfect pair. Petal; stubborn, strong-willed and headstrong, with her strange eyes and sharp tongue; Flaw; a charmer, a she-cat's man, and always quick to flirt whenever he had the opportunity; there was _no way _that they were going to have a very easy conversation.

"The name's Flaw," Flaw introduced himself, still drawing out his words. "According to the Guardians of the Night, the 'reformed' ones, anyway, I'm a traitor who isn't loyal to the Betrayal because I fought on the wrong side. I mean, is their _really _a wrong side? If you look at it, can't both sides be right?"

"You stun me with your logic," Petal growled sarcastically.

"I'm brilliant, aren't I?" Flaw flashed a smile.

"Now, if you were in this cage with me, you wouldn't get away with that," she replied lightly.

"I'm sure I wouldn't, sweetie," the black-and-white tom answered.

Petal growled warningly again, but stopped dead when she saw the next cat that was dragged into the large concrete building. It was her brother, Thunder, obviously unconscious. Flaw started to his paws in amazement, bounding to the front of the cage and only stepping back when Amber, the she-cat who had captured Petal when she'd first crossed into the West Side, spat at him.

Stoner and O'Rourke dragged Thunder up to her cage and dropped him on the floor, where he lay for a while, silent, and then uttered a little moan. Petal winced as one of the two short-legged squashed-faced amber-eyed grey-furred cats brought their paw up high in the air and sent it sailing into the side of her brother's head with a loud _thump!_ and then stepped aside to let the cage door swing open. The silver she-cat stood up, only to be glared at by one of the cats threateningly, and then sat down again, glancing at Thunder worriedly. They shoved him to the front of the cage and then shut the door behind them, and once again she heard a faint clicking sound.

She waited until they'd gone to rise to her paws and hurry over to his side, turning him onto his side and prodding him gently.

"Ah, sweetie, you don't want to do that," Flaw's voice cut through the air. "He has a bit of a temper."

Petal glared at him.

"You don't seem to understand," she spat. "This isn't the Storm that you keep talking about. _This _is my brother. Storm died moons ago."

"If you say so," the tom went back to his usual position, his head resting on his neatly-crossed paws.

Petal rolled her eyes at Flaw's despondency and downtrodden attitude, and went back to gently shaking Thunder. For a while, he showed no response, and then he groaned faintly, his eyes opening blearily and looking up at a hazy world, into the hopeful face of his adoptive sister.

"Petal?" he whispered, softly at first. "Petal!" he exclaimed, louder this time.

"Who's Petal?" Dimitri broke in. "What's he talking about, Gladewhisper?"

Thunder chuckled weakly, his body shaking up and down.

"I'll never understand your sense of humour," he meowed.

"Huh? What?" the ginger tom asked, clearly puzzled.

Petal glared at Thunder; instead of taking up her need for secrecy, he just shook his head with a wheezing laugh and pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"What's your name?" he asked Dimitri.

"Dimitri."

"Well, _Dimitri_, Gladewhisper's name isn't actually Gladewhisper, is it, Petal?" Thunder's eyes gleamed in amusement.

"No," she sighed, not believing how unsupportive he was being.

"You mean you lied?" Dimitri said, apparently shocked.

"I don't know how you believed her," Thunder grinned. "She's the worst liar ever."

There was a stifled 'ow!' as she cuffed him around the head lightly but reproachfully, so that it didn't hurt the probably bruised side of his head where the two stubby-legged toms had hit him time and time again.

"So, uh…Petal," Dimitri said, a growling edge to his voice. "If we weren't in the situation we're in now, I would personally see to it that you were abandoned in the middle of the forest with those savages that sleep on the bones of their enemies."

"Someone's been listening to too many stories," she answered. "They're not savages, and they don't sleep on the bones of their victim. And some of them also happen to be my family."

"Think what you like; I know the truth," the ginger tom said shortly.

"You've barely been anywhere or seen any_thing_," Petal snapped, not liking the fact that he had the nerve to argue with her of all cats. "My mother's been there, and she's told us stories."

"Yeah, but –"

"Oh, my ears!" Flaw had his paws clapped firmly to his ears, his eyes narrowed to slits. "Would you two stop bickering? Please? Some cats like peace and quiet around here!"

"Ah, Flaw, they're young – I'm sure you were like this when you were younger," an old, dry voice said, seeming to come from Dimitri's cage.

"Ah…Dimitri?" Petal turned around, her eyes glued to the walls.

"What?"

She let out a sigh of relief when he answered, but it still didn't solve the mystery of the strange voice.

"Is there anyone in there with you?" she asked.

"Yes, her name –"

"I can speak for myself, sonny!"

There was the voice again, rough and used, having a catch amongst all its scratchiness. It sounded a little like one of the old cats in the Tribe of Rushing Water, who had told Petal and her littermates stories sometimes.

"I'm Shackles," Shackles rasped, kindly breaking the silence. "I've been locked up here pretty much ever since the Guardians of the Night was established. I'm telling you, it's no life. You want to get out of here as soon as possible."

Petal frowned and padded up to the bars, slipping a paw through the gap, then, taking in a deep breath, she managed to squeeze herself through the small gap and end up on the other side – she expected Flaw to be even the tiniest bit excited about it, but all he said was,

"Oh. Wow."

"Why haven't you done that?" Petal tilted her head to one side.

"Get back in!" Flaw suddenly hissed, and by the way he said it she knew he meant it.

Turning around hastily, she squeezed back through the gap and sat down in a manner very much like Flaw's, just in time for Stoner, O'Rourke, and a number of other cats to return, each dragging or keeping a watchful eye on about sixteen hardy toms, each scratched and covered in blood. One of them, a dark brown-and-white tom, was struggling in the grip of Amber, begging with the huge she-cat. His eyes were staring in the opposite direction of Petal, but then Amber jerked him round in an effort to stop him struggling, and she saw – the identical sets of amber eyes, one set frightened, the other set distant and emotionless. _Could it be…? _Petal trailed off in her mind as the brown-and-white tom looked away sharply, as if she had stung him.

"I was going to come back, Amber, I promise! I just thought you needed someone on the inside!" he begged.

Amber refused to answer, her teeth gripping the tom's scruff even tighter, leaving small red puncture marks staining the snow white fur surrounded his throat and scruff. Petal could not read the emotions flashing vaguely over Amber's face, each one disappearing as quickly as it had come. _I'd bet that Snow would, _she thought with a pang, her eyes clouding with tears as she remembered the littermates she'd left, standing in the snow and just watching as she quickly disappeared down the sharp ledges of the mountainside.

Slowly, the procession passed by, the brown-and-white tom still struggling in Amber's less than gentle grip – and it was then that the ginger tom caught her eye. His pelt looked very familiar, but she couldn't place the end of her thought so she shook her head and waited until they'd disappeared, and then looked at her brother, millions of questions now burning in her mind.

"How're the others? What did you do to them?"

Thunder propped himself up on his two strong front legs, his amber eyes staring pleadingly up at Petal. Then, he shook his head.

"I did some terrible things in the mountains, Petal," he sighed. "None of it was my fault; I was _controlled_, and I can still feel that extra conscience in the corner of my mind, I can still search through his memories…"

"Thunder, what are you talking about?" the silver she-cat was shaking her head slowly.

"It was me," he whispered. "I pushed Silver over the edge, and Sky, and Blizzard. I didn't mean to, please, Petal –"

"You _what_?" she screeched, drawing back her paw and swiping him across the face; he flinched, but made no further move.

"It was Storm, not me! Petal, you have to believe me!"

"I'm glad I left," she snarled, turning away from him pointedly. "Now I realise that my fate was to tumble down into the abyss if I'd continued on with you, _I'm glad_. Do you know how hard it is for me to say that? I left Shell standing there, not knowing what to do, for StarClan's sake! I left all of you when I really didn't want to, against my better judgement, and you have the audacity to sit there and tell me that my better judgement was _wrong_? Where would I be now, Thunder, if I had stayed with you? Do you think that our father – no, not _our _father, _my _father – would have had the slightest clue where to look for us? As if traipsing down into an abyss isn't ridiculous enough as an idea! You ask me to believe you after you openly admit that you're responsible for the deaths of almost all my true family? When I leave, Thunder, I'm taking Dimitri with me and leaving _you _behind! You can rot behind these bars for all I care!"

"Petal?" Dimitri's tentative voice made its way into her cage.

"What?" Petal asked patiently, her chest rising and falling heavily, practically the only hint of her outburst that had happened only seconds ago.

"I think you should calm down and not yell about escaping from here," he said very quickly, all in one hurried breath.

"You're right," she answered softly, and then looked this way and that, as if trying to look for someone walking past the cages. "Flaw, why haven't you ever tried getting out the way I just did?"

"Some of us have these, honey," he waved his hind leg in the air and Petal caught a glimpse of metal, and heard the clattering of the chain as it hit the ground repetitively. "We're highly-guarded prisoners; there's no way Krypt wants us escaping."

"So, you can't escape," a small smile curled upon her lips; Thunder was now long forgotten, and he had backed away, in no hurry to be remembered by Petal.

"No," Flaw replied shortly. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to try it, either."

"We're escaping, Flaw. And you're going to help us."

xXx

She gave the signal with a single flick of her silver tail.

Immediately, Flaw sprung into action, rattling at his chain and screeching at the top of his lungs; they timed this just before the guards switched over, so the cats guarding the prison were drowsy, because each set of two guards had twelve hour shifts, switching over with the next pair at the precise end of the twelve hours. A cat came rushing in – to Petal's intense surprise it was Snitch, streaking past the cells with amazing speed and stopping at Flaw's cage, panting.

"What are you doing?" the pale brown tom narrowed his eyes.

Flaw twitched his ear, letting Petal and Dimitri know that it was time for them to go. _Now or never, _she thought, drawing in a deep breath, and slipped through the bars, aware of Dimitri doing the same thing next to her. Silently, and keeping to the shadows, the pair slipped past Snitch; thankfully, the other prisoners didn't want to try and help the cats that had put them there in the first place, so they just remained silent and stared into the distance as they passed. Flaw managed to keep Snitch talking, complaining about how his hind leg was burning and how it hadn't been out of the chain for seasons, and he hadn't been out for as long as his leg had been kept chained to the wall. Snitch didn't seem to pick up that Flaw was wasting his time deliberately, and Petal inwardly sighed with relief – sometimes cats could just _tell_; she'd had moments like that herself, when she knew whether a cat was lying or not, or doing something for a particular reason.

"Good luck," a cat whispered as they stepped lightly past, and Petal flashed them a fleeting smile before scampering to the open door, Dimitri close behind.

The cat guarding the door was half-asleep, and, rather than using the decided tactic of knocking out the opponent, they padded gently around the cat without him noticing. His ears twitched in his half-sleep, and he murmured faintly, but other than that remained unmoved. Exchanging glances, Petal and Dimitri pressed themselves against the door of the prison and began to climb up the drainage pipes.

This was the harder part of their plan – they had to climb up onto the roof without getting noticed, which for Petal would be fairly easy. Dimitri, on the other hand, would stick out like a sore thumb. His orange pelt wasn't exactly made for sneaking around buildings. Luckily for them, however, it was twilight, and the perpetual gloom that hung around the West Side made it darker than it should be. All the same, Dimitri rubbed some dust into his pelt, trying very hard not to sneeze, and followed Petal up the pipe, his tiny claws making no sound as they scraped over the charred metal.

She reached the flat roof first, dragging him up by the scruff for the remainder of the way, slapping her tail over his mouth when he wriggled in protest. He finally collapsed on the top of the roof in a disgruntled, fluffy ginger bundle of fur, his round green eyes glaring at the silver she-cat. She smiled, tossed her head, and pressed herself flat against the roof, so as to avoid being seen. Sliding her paws slowly across the concrete beneath her feet, she reached the other side quickly and leaned over, recoiling with snake-like speed and crashing into Dimitri behind her, who luckily made no sound.

"Don't make a sound!" she hissed into his ear, turning around to do so. "Ginnie and Wiley are settling down for the night beneath us. We'll need to move to another part of the roof."  
"But if we're above them, they won't be able to see us," Dimitri replied. "If we move, they'll easily spot us."

She stopped. She hadn't thought of that. _Good thing I brought Dimitri with me_, she thought with a sigh of relief, _I almost didn't. But you never know, cats can and do surprise you. I wouldn't have thought that Dimitri would have come up with that, and I certainly wouldn't have thought of it. _

"You're right," she murmured in reply, rotating her body again to peer over the edge.

Ginnie and Wiley were completely unaware of the two cats looking over the side of the roof above them, and were chattering to one another, making remarks about how their day had been. Words like 'unusual' and 'different' seemed to be popping up throughout the conversation, and Ginnie sported a large but mostly invisible bruise on the side of her head, covered by her clumped ginger fur.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," Petal whispered, slipping back to where Dimitri was. "We're going to climb down the pipes and stick to the shadows, and try not to make any loud noises. Then, we'll head towards that street –" she raised her tail so as to demonstrate the direction of the street "– and hopefully not get spotted. You'll be surprised how long we can go without them seeing us."  
"Wouldn't a more physical approach be better?" Dimitri suggested.

"Can you fight?" Petal asked brusquely.

The ginger tom shook his head.

"Exactly," she meowed, and she slid smoothly over the rooftop, Dimitri heading in the opposite direction.

When she reached the pipe, she tested it with her paws, making sure that she would be able to get a grip on it. The fire had made the previously smooth surface charred and rough, an easy place to get a pawhold on. She'd have to be careful, though; not all of it would be as charred as the first couple of whiskerlengths, and she wanted to avoid sliding down the pipe.

Satisfied that she'd got a firm pawhold, she began to climb down the pipe, all the while watching Ginnie and Wiley out of the corner of her eye. Then her paw met metal, cold, hard and slippery, and for the briefest heartbeat she was about to slip, but then her paws found safety again in the charred remainder of the pipe, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She glanced sideways, in the vain hope of seeing Dimitri – night had fallen, yet no news of their escape had reached any of the cats; she doubted that anyone, besides the cats in the prison, knew.

Shakily, she continued down the pipe, relaxing as her paws touched horizontal ground and her body no longer stood on an almost vertical pipe.

And that was when it all went wrong.

A cry from Dimitri's direction split through the night, and it was indeed Dimitri. Ginnie and Wiley looked up, instantly alert, but in the heartbeats that it had taken them to blink the sleep out of their eyes, Petal had raced in front of them and scooped Dimitri up by the scruff (he was only a small cat), and was now racing towards there escape route. The two fighters chased after her, yet even though they had trained hard and long, Petal's upbringing in the mountains saved her – Ginnie and Wiley had been trained for stamina, not speed, so they could outdo their opponent, while Petal had been trained for speed; to manage to overtake the swift-flying hawk, and the other quick-footed mountain prey that she'd been taught to hunt, to flee from gales and driving winds; and now, she was thankful for the training that her mother had given her when she was little more than a kit.

Her heart pounded as she ran – she still had a while to go before her strength ran out, but the extra weight of Dimitri was slowing her down. Her chest rose and fell heavily and her eyes watered; a strange wind had found its way into the West Side, stirring up all the ashen dirt that had found its way between the cobbles. She choked slightly on the ash-filled air, but continued on running, her vision blurred by the flying specks of ash. She didn't truly understand how it could still be there after so many seasons.

"I think I can walk…" Dimitri panted.

Petal showed no sign of hearing him and ran on relentlessly, until she finally found the streets dwindling into dirt tracks; Ginnie and Wiley were still behind them, but they slowed to a halt when she leapt off the road and padded into a thick grove of trees before setting Dimitri down. She watched as they shared looks and then turned back, their silhouettes fading quickly into the darkening night sky.

**Author's Note: Sorry I haven't updated in ages! School's started again and it's been a bit hectic lately…and I think I got five reviews for last chapter, so everyone gets a Dimitri plushie! Remember to review. I love reading reviews, and even if you don't have an account you can review.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_Petal_

Sunlight.

Actual, real, golden sunlight filtered into the grove, shining in Petal's face and waking her up instantly. Dimitri stirred beside her, but showed no sign of wanting to get up, and remained stretched out in the sun, his ginger pelt catching the sunlight. Then his front legs extended and he arched his back, and she realised he was stretching.

"Hurry up!" she snapped. "We don't have time for that!"

He started to his paws instantly, a wild look in his eyes, and jumped in surprise, landing heavily on three paws while his front right one hovered uncertainly above the ground at an odd angle.

"What's wrong with your paw?" Petal bent down to examine it, narrowing her eyes.

Dimitri quickly snatched his paw away, wincing a little in the process.

"It's…nothing. Just nothing," he mewed shakily.

Shrugging, Petal turned and squeezed between too large oak trees that acted as an entrance to the grove, and didn't bother to wait to see if Dimitri would follow suit. The instant she stepped out, she was overcome by a sense of oppression; something clinging to her pelt and hanging in the air, maybe just a feeling, but still there. The grass around her feet was ash, and she could taste the stinging scent of smoke – clearly, the fire had reached here, and because of the grass, burnt more eagerly. Yet strangely, the oak trees were unscathed; tall, strong and its roots a twisted tangle. Only the slightest signs of the fire ailed it; there was a faint hint of charring at the very bottom of the tree, but nothing more. Then, snapping back into reality, she realised that Dimitri wasn't following her. She would have left him behind if she could, but she needed a guide through Little Broadhinny, the neighbouring village to Broadhinny, a fast growing city. It wouldn't be too hard, but she needed places to stay; and sleeping in kittypet's gardens uninvited wasn't a good idea. Some kittypets were really bad-tempered.

"Dimitri?"

The ginger tom poked his head out from between the oak trees, and gingerly placed his front right paw down, and then his left, meowing in shock when he slipped down the smooth, raised root. Then he limped over to Petal, standing only a few taillengths away.

"Your paw's not fine!" she snapped. "Come here, let me take a look."

Petal had never really been interested in herbs; her mother had dragged her to a lesson with her other siblings, where Stoneteller had taught them the basis of healing. Not that she'd payed much attention. The only cat who'd ever been interested in herbs was Snow, and she'd visited Stoneteller regularly until they'd ended up leaving. If they'd found their way to ThunderClan, Petal was almost sure that Snow would've chosen the path of a medicine cat.

Sighing, Dimitri moved his paw so that Petal could examine it. The silver she-cat leaned down, narrowing her eyes to focus. The paw had been twisted to the side, and remained at an awkward angle. A sick feeling rose in her stomach. Stoneteller hadn't taught her how to heal broken bones. Maybe he had. Maybe she just wasn't listening.

"I think it's dislocated, not broken," Dimitri meowed.

"Dislocated?" Petal growled – she didn't like cats that knew more than her.

"Yeah, the bone's out of place," he said enthusiastically, nodding his head. "You need to put it back in place."

"How, exactly?" she asked reluctantly; questions were for cats that didn't know things.

In other words, they were stupid.

"Well, grasp it in between your teeth, and pull it back to where it's supposed to go," he said brightly.

"Sounds simple enough," Petal said, albeit doubtfully.

Taking the paw in her mouth, she pulled it straight; wincing as she heard a sharp click that was strangely satisfying at the same time. Dimitri gritted his teeth, his eyes watering with the pain even after she'd done it. Once most of the pain had passed, he tested it lightly on the ground, sharply pulling it up again. Petal raised an eyebrow, and then turned and padded away, leaving Dimitri to limp after her. It probably wasn't the most selfless thing to do, as he was clearly hurt, but Petal didn't care about that – at this moment, particularly at this moment, she was really missing her mother, and her siblings. The only way she could get them back was to summon the help of the father she'd never known.

She stalked forward, her paws sliding easily through the piles of ash that littered the burnt grey grass. Loneliness had overcome her now; Dimitri wasn't the best company. She viewed him as a kit, excitable and easygoing, annoying and irresponsible, but still necessary because she needed a guide through Little Broadhinny.

"I should have taken Galestorm with me," she muttered under her breath, remembering how stern the grey-and-white tabby tom had been.

But then she remembered that the former RiverClan warrior hadn't been anywhere near them in the prison that had expanded itself around the square, sinking into the ground and spreading out into a wide, stunted grey blob. If he'd been near them, he would have spoken at least once as Petal had made her plans to escape with Flaw and Dimitri, and Shackles, who threw in the odd idea. Now, she wished she'd taken Thunder with her, because he was good company – although he was one of the more distant siblings she had, what with there being eight of them, she still appreciated his company. She'd actually asked him to come with her and Dimitri, but he'd just shook his head and smiled.

"You don't want me," he'd said.

And so, she assumed that she didn't want him. But now she did.

Tossing her head, she sped up as she heard Dimitri closing the distance between them. It wasn't that she didn't like him; it was that she didn't want to talk to him because every time he managed to make some annoying comment or accusation of kinds. Usually he'd manage, unintentionally, to bring up the rather painful subjects of her mother and her littermates. Even though it was unintentional, she didn't want to dwell on the subject.

_And what am I doing now? _Petal asked herself angrily, shaking her head to clear away her thoughts. She'd done a lot of thinking lately, mostly because she'd been alone, or she hadn't been in good company. On the mountainside, clearly she wouldn't have been able to talk to anyone, so she'd thought to herself, had sarcastic conversations in her head. When she'd met Galestorm and Dimitri, Galestorm would always be talking to Dimitri so she never talked to him; instead, she'd processed all the information she'd been given. Her father was the leader now, which meant he had the power to leave at his own will, which made things a whole lot easier. Maybe she'd be able to find Silver and her littermates and return before greenleaf had started; she'd always wanted to experience a season where there was something under her feet other than snow. During her stay with the Guardians of the Night, Snitch had provided her with reasonably good company until she'd been left with Shirley and Trapeze, who she'd chosen to try and avoid, and Ginnie and Wiley she'd never seen, and hardly ever spoken to. Although, she must admit, the episode where she'd threatened them had been quite entertaining.

And now, she found herself thinking again. She was so deeply involved in her thought that she didn't realise that the grass beneath her feet had now turned green, and then haphazard, ash-covered, squat buildings of West Broadhinny were but tiny shadows in the distance, and that a pleasant brick village sat before her. Dimitri, however, noticed it at once.

"Isn't this wonderful?" he exclaimed.

"Sure," Petal said dryly, her eyes flickering briefly over the scene before her.

Dimitri half-limped, half-bounced up to her, tumbling at one point and turning a somersault, his injured paw coming out bruised, but he didn't let this hinder him.

"We're in Little Broadhinny again!"

"Stunned," she said, very much in the manner of when she said 'thrilled', when she was introduced to another member of the Tribe who she didn't particularly want to meet.

She dully padded on, Dimitri doing a curious and jerky dance around her, causing her to roll her eyes on more than one occasion as he skip-hopped around her, somehow managing to keep up. Growling faintly, she tossed her head and padded even more determinedly forwards. Gradually, the ginger tom began to fall behind, but then started a three-legged run which was even more annoying than his dance.

Quite soon, they had arrived on the edge of Little Broadhinny, and Petal realised that taking Dimitri with her had been completely unnecessary – Little Broadhinny was about a tenth of the size of the West Side, and from one side of it you could see straight through it, right into the forest. _The forest, _she thought, gleefully, _the forest! _

But she didn't let this excitement show; instead, she padded steadily onwards, her eyes fixated on the lush green trees that seemed only foxlengths away. So focused was she that she didn't notice the monster driving straight at her, and Dimitri had to throw her to the side, into a garbage can, to stop her getting hit. The monster shrieked on its way, acting like it hadn't seen or heard them.

Petal was shaken; she'd never seen a monster before, only heard about them, and they were far worse in the flesh than they were when spoken about in words. As a kit, she'd always boasted about how, one day, she'd take down a monster with no trouble. She wouldn't be able to take down one of those things, not if StarClan gave her all eternity to bring one down.

Then, she became aware of the pain – a dull throbbing in her shoulder, which had been jarred against the now fallen garbage can, its contents strewn across the floor. Its putrid smell rose in her nose, and she staggered away from it hastily, her muscles suddenly convulsing and bringing her to the floor. She closed her eyes to rest, and Dimitri patiently waited at her side; but as the minutes passed, he grew more impatient and less willing to remain there, and eventually decided to haul her up in his teeth, earning a sharp cuff around the ear.

"Don't do that again," she growled, shaking the dust from her silver pelt, which had not fared well in West Broadhinny.

The ginger tom reproachfully took a step back, trailing after her as she set the pace again, carefully plastering herself to the wars and peeking around corners before setting a paw on one of the acrid-smelling roads. She did this slowly and deliberately, as if to set Dimitri into a reassured state, monotonously following her slow pawsteps. Hopefully, this would give her time. Hopefully.

Without warning she broke into a loping run, despite the pain in her shoulder, and to fast for Dimitri to catch up. She crossed the streets and roads with great ease, like she'd done it all her life, and charged past the twolegs that cluttered the streets. A few of them turned to look at her as she sped by, a silver streak, but most didn't even bother to look. And then, finally, she was there. In the forest, the place where she was supposed to be moons ago.

She looked over her shoulder to check Dimitri wasn't following her – thankfully, he wasn't, and she relaxed her speed, taking in her surroundings. Ancient oak trees, their trunks heavily scarred with age, were home to chattering squirrels, running around the branches and barely taking notice of her light-stepped presence. Silvery-barked birch trees, their gentle, fluttering leaves catching in the breeze, making a melodious rustling sound as they did so; and the heavily-forested undergrowth surrounded their slender silvery-brown roots, thick and dense, crawling with tiny rodents that picked their way through the leaf litter. Tall, weathered alders spread their branches close to the ground, bramble bushes growing thickly around them for some reason. A gentle zephyr had picked up, and the leaves made such a loud sound that it didn't seem to be physically possible. This _had _to be the forest that Silver had spent most of their kithood telling them about. If not, well…all forests had to be quite similar to this, right? And if it wasn't exactly the same she'd be alright.

She closed her eyes, letting out a sigh. This must be it. She knew it in her heart. The feeling of peace, and harmony, without the distinct tenseness in the air that she'd experienced in Broadhinny. No, this forest had a powerful feeling, that of warmth, and comforting – it reminded her of home, like the cave in which the Tribe of Rushing Water lived. Although she must admit, this was slightly different.

All of a sudden, the pleasantry ran out. Her shoulder twinged with pain, could no longer carry her wait, and it collapsed beneath her, limp and useless. It was a matter of seconds before the grogginess hit her brain, sending her into a deep, drifting sleep, but not before she let out a sharp yowl, and sent a golden cat crashing through the undergrowth, running straight for her.

**Author's Note: I'm sorry I updated late. I don't think I will have very frequent updates any more because it's no longer holiday time and every day in my week (apart from Sunday & Saturday) go until quite late at night, mostly because of sport training and such things. However, I also spent a significant amount of time reading when I should have been writing. If you haven't read The Hunger Games, I suggest you read it, because it's absolutely brilliant!**

**Hopefully my next update will be closer in time to this (perhaps even tomorrow :D). Please remember to review! I only got three reviews last chapter *sniffle*. All those who reviewed get a Molepaw plushie :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

_Leopardpaw_

He'd only been practising a difficult battle move.

This was the battle move that he hadn't been able to do in a whole training session; for him, it was a first. Usually, he could do it almost straight away, with little practise, but this one was different. It had to be more precise, stronger, defter, faster, quieter, than any others he'd done. He was starting to get the hang of it. That was, until he heard the scream.

The scream that had sent him racing away from the training area and careering up the hill into its general direction, until he stopped beside the unmoving body of a silver cat. It was a she-cat, he could tell that by her scent – where she'd come from was another matter. The heavy smell of ash clung to her pelt, her silver coat matted with dust and grime and clumped together with something resembling sweat. He padded closer to her, curious, and leant down to see if he could detect her heartbeat. It was there, faint and gentle, but still present. So why, then, had she collapsed like this, with no visible injury?

He stared down at her. He had no idea who she was. A rogue, a kittypet – why did he care? And then it clicked; during training one day, he'd asked his father who 'Silver' was, because he'd heard her name muttered around Camp – sometimes in a positive light, but more often in a negative one. He'd told him about the strange silver she-cat, or 'the Silver Warrior' as some called her, who'd come to the Clan when Firestar was still alive. She'd immediately captured Bramblestar's heart, and then her sister had turned up with a cat called Shadow, and it turned out they were Tribe cats. Echo, or Echo_song_, had decided to join the Clan, but Shadow persuaded Silver to leave, and she did; but with the whispered promise to Bramblestar that she'd come back. Unfortunately, Echosong had been hit by a monster about seven moons after Silver left. Leopardpaw had faint memories of the kind silver she-cat with black paws who'd often brought his mother prey when he'd been a kit. Always so polite, and good, and decent, never questioning any cat's abilities or orders. It was rumoured that a WindClan cat had staged her death on the Thunderpath, but had actually killed her and didn't want to get in a fight with ThunderClan. Of course, rumours were rumours.

Yet, could this cat be Silver? Could this be Bramblestar's mate? The silver pelt was marked with grime and dust, and he was sure those heavy eyelids could be hiding bright blue eyes. It _could _be her; it was so very likely to be her that he didn't consider the consequences if it wasn't Silver, but just some rogue or loner that he'd picked up when he was out training alone. Grasping her by the scruff (she was very much lighter than he thought she'd be), he began to trek back to Camp, carefully avoiding her tail that dragged limply along the ground and tangled his paws. He wove through the trees until they began to thin out and the land slowly began to fall downhill, making way for the ThunderClan Camp.

He padded through the entrance, still struggling to maintain the weight of the she-cat, and was greeted by the usual sight in ThunderClan; Tinykit playing with Dappledpaw and Sunpaw, or rather, pestering them; the senior warriors eating together and talking good-naturedly; Berrynose and Poppyfrost sharing tongues with glowing eyes; Lionblaze, Icecloud, Foxleap, Doveshine and Bumblestripe chatting amiably; Bramblestar stretched out in the sun, with Squirrelflight shooting dirty glances in his general direction, and Leafpool desperately trying to regain her sister's attention. And then, all of a sudden, it froze, as blind Jayfeather came brushing past all the warriors and running straight at Leopardpaw, skidding to a halt just as the apprentice thought that the medicine cat would crash into him, and then sniffing at the lifeless bundle in Leopardpaw's jaw.

"Bring her to the medicine den," Jayfeather instructed, and turned to rush back to the medicine den, with Leopardpaw following with his best attempt at a run.

They reached it soon enough, but not before the entire Clan's attention was trained on them, and Bramblestar had left his position on the Highrock.

"Guard the entrance," Jayfeather muttered.

Leopardpaw narrowed his eyes – was that an order, or a suggestion?

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, don't let Bramblestar in here, that's what I mean!" Jayfeather snapped.

_Okay, I guess that's an order, _Leopardpaw decided, and marched over to the entrance, just in time. He blocked the small space as Bramblestar reached it, a worried look in his amber eyes.

"It's Silver, isn't it?" he asked frantically. "What's wrong with her?"

"It…might be Silver," Leopardpaw meowed, carefully choosing his words. "I just found her in the forest."

"Let me past," Bramblestar growled, moving to the left to brush past the apprentice.

Leopardpaw stepped to the left, evenly meeting Bramblestar's gaze.

"Leopardpaw, get out of my way! That's an order!" the leader snapped.

"A leader must always listen to their medicine cat's instructions," Leopardpaw replied. "_This _is Jayfeather's order. So I will act on Jayfeather's order, because you, as his leader, are obliged to do so."

"Don't stand here and talk the warrior code with me," the brown tabby spat. "Let me inside! I don't care about the warrior code in this instance, and I will strike you down unless you let me in to see my mate!"

Leopardpaw didn't reply; he merely stood his ground, staring steadily into his leader's eyes. He could see the desperation in them, the want, and the loyalty that Bramblestar had for his mate. _Could I really feel like this about a she-cat? _Leopardpaw asked himself. Sunpaw or Dappledpaw would have answered, grinning, _you already do. Remember Cherrypaw? _But in this instance he couldn't see himself loving Cherrypaw in that way. No, his affection for Cherrypaw was a silly, kit-like crush, something he'd get over.

Only heartbeats later, Jayfeather emerged, coming to stand beside Leopardpaw. Immediately, Bramblestar was a mass of questions.

"How is she? Is she okay? Is she hurt? How was she hurt? Will she live?"

The blind grey tabby tom glared at his leader sightlessly, but then his eyes grew round, now looking more sympathetic.

"There's something you need to understand," he started.

"What?" Bramblestar asked worriedly, his paws shifting uneasily.

Jayfeather jerked his head backwards, in the direction of the inside of the den.

"In there, that isn't your mate…that's your daughter."  
"_What?_" Bramblestar and Leopardpaw exclaimed at the same time.

xXx

"I have a daughter?" Bramblestar still couldn't get over the shock.

"Yes," Jayfeather said dryly.

Leopardpaw couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. When the medicine cat had told Bramblestar there was something he needed to understand, the apprentice had thought he'd brought a total stranger into ThunderClan Camp. He couldn't imagine the punishment he'd receive for that. He'd probably be rewarded now, for saving the leader's daughter.

"How old is she?" the ThunderClan leader said.

"Just about nine moons – not much older than Leopardpaw," the grey tabby replied. "I suspected that Silver was pregnant before she left."

"And you never told me – _she _never told me?" Bramblestar looked displeased.

"Well, obviously," Jayfeather answered thinly.

"And where is she now?"

Shrug.

"Were there any other kits?"

Shrug.  
"Did StarClan tell you she was coming here?"

Shrug.

"How do you know she's my daughter?"

Shrug.

"For StarClan's sake, will you stop shrugging?"

By now, most of the Clan was gathered outside the medicine den, gossiping about the newest arrival. Lionblaze, accompanied by Icecloud, pushed through the crowd and made their way to Bramblestar's side. Lionblaze looked concernedly at his leader, and then shot a reprimanding gaze in Leopardpaw's direction. Leopardpaw lowered his eyes, wanting to divert the keen attention that was trained on him.

"Can I go and see her?" Bramblestar meowed finally.

Shrug.

Pushing past Jayfeather, the brown tabby tom stormed into the den. Lionblaze glared at his brother, whose shoulders were shaking from the laughter that racked his body.

"You have a mean sense of humour," Lionblaze growled.

Jayfeather didn't answer; instead, he kept laughing, and the golden tabby shoved his brother out of the way and padded forcefully into the den. With a glance at Icecloud, Leopardpaw followed his father, satisfied when he heard Sunpaw's and Dappledpaw's protests as Icecloud refused to let them in.

The scene in the medicine den was much more interesting than what was going on outside; Bramblestar was bending over the silver heap of fur, which Jayfeather had been kind enough to clean. She wasn't awake, but her pelt rose and fell in a gentle rhythm, until it suddenly stopped. Her eyes flew open, and she scrambled to her paws, backing up against the wall of the medicine den, her claws unsheathing on instinct. He caught sight of her white fangs glinting as she drew her lips back in a snarl.

"Get away!" she threatened, drawing back her paw.

Bramblestar looked slightly hurt, but then his expression cleared a he realised that she'd have no idea what was going on. Leopardpaw took a step closer to her, and she rounded on him, lashing out with a blow that barely missed.

"What did you do to Dimitri?" she spat. "Who are you?"

"Who's Dimitri?" Leopardpaw asked curiously, at the exact same time that Bramblestar answered,

"I'm Bramblestar. This is Lionblaze, my deputy, and his son, Leopardpaw."

"You're Bramblestar?" she said, incredulously. "You're my father?"

At this point, Lionblaze muttered something about Jayfeather also being right. Bramblestar, on the other hand, nodded. And then, the silver she-cat flew to him, her paws a blur as she raced to his side.

"You have to help me!" she gasped. "Silver…Ice…Eagle…they fell! And so did Blizzard and Sky!"

"Slow down," Leopardpaw suggested. "Old cats have issues with understanding things."

The silver she-cat turned her attention to him, which distracted Leopardpaw from Lionblaze's glare, and Bramblestar's raised eyebrows. She smiled, a fleeting smile, and then her eyes flickered up and down, judging him. He noticed that they changed colour as they moved – at first, they were blue, and then they became silvery-green in a matter of heartbeats.

"Hey, do your eyes always do that?"

For a minute, she paused. And then,

"Oh, StarClan!" she meowed, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, I'm just curious!" Leopardpaw said defensively.

She raised an eyebrow, and then turned back to Bramblestar, desperation growing on her face once more.

"Slow down," Leopardpaw muttered.

She threw a glance in his direction, and nodded faintly, almost gratefully, before resting her gaze on her father, the features on her face visibly tightening with anxiety.

"Silver fell," she said steadily. "Into the abyss, she fell. Eagle and Ice, my sister and my brother, your son and daughter, fell with her. Uh…" she trailed off, confused "…but there were more of us – Blizzard, Sky, Snow, Shell and – and Thunder," she said the last name with a growl, and her eyes narrowed, as if there were some dispute between the two. "Silver adopted a mountain cat's kits, her name was Falcer; well, you might have known her as Falconstrike."

"Falconstrike?" Bramblestar was surprised, and he momentarily forgot about Silver. "Yes, I remember her. She fell into a fast-flowing current and drowned."  
"Except she didn't," the silver she-cat said. "She lived; she fled to the mountains, because she and another Clan cat wanted to live there, away from the Clans. But the thing was, they waited moons before they were to be reunited again, because they were from different Clans, and Falcer – Falconstrike – ran into trouble. Let's just say she had another tom's kits, and she didn't want to have them, so she gave them to Silver. And now…" she trailed off, shaking her head.

"Can I ask a question?" Leopardpaw asked tentatively.

"What?" she spat, turning around so fiercely that he recoiled immediately.

"Temper," Leopardpaw muttered indifferently, rolling his eyes. "What's your name?"

"My name?" she seemed almost taken aback, and paused. "Petal," she said finally, and decisively. "Petal."

"Your name is Petal," Bramblestar smiled half-heartedly, shaking his head. "She always said she'd name one of our kits Petal – I thought she was joking."

"Do you think there's something funny about my name?" she asked accusingly, a little downtrodden.

"No!" Bramblestar amended hastily. "It was funny; she always talked about having kits, especially in the later days that she was here, before she left. And I had no idea."

"It's because you're a tom," Petal said promptly, tossing her head. "You don't notice these things."

"We don't, do we?" Leopardpaw asked loftily. "You _she-cats _don't know anything. You can hardly see what's in front of your paws!"

"Oh yeah, well –"

The three older cats exchanged glances; Lionblaze looked bemused; Bramblestar was annoyed; and Jayfeather, despite his blindness, found something very interesting between his paws and lowered his head to hide his amusement. Petal and Leopardpaw continued their heated argument, which grew more angry and heartfelt by the second, unaware of the older cats' dispositions. Suddenly, the silver she-cat stopped and flushed, and licked her chest fur quickly to hide her embarrassment. Then, she tossed her head.

Bramblestar stared at her, long and hard, and then quickly turned away, but not before Petal saw the pain in his eyes. Without a second glance, the ThunderClan leader padded out of the den, followed by Lionblaze who gave his son an unforgiving glare and a sharp cuff, which the apprentice managed to duck. Jayfeather stood silently by them, his pale, sightless blue eyes confused. Petal and Leopardpaw exchanged a glance, and then a smirk crept onto Leopardpaw's face and he shook his head.

"Fathers," he said.

The silver she-cat studied him judgingly – his elegant, tapering face, long, muscular legs and golden pelt with the hidden muscles rippling at every move. He was very much like his father, she discovered. He must be a tom who got all the she-cats running around after him.

"You know," she smiled. "For once, that's something we generally agree on."

xXx

A silence hung over the Camp as Leopardpaw emerged from the den, followed by the obviously limping but very determined silver tabby. Her step was firm, apart from her front left leg, which hovered uncertainly above the ground. When she looked at someone, her eyes flickering from colour to colour in the wavering light, they would glance away, almost shame-faced.

Leopardpaw wondered at their peculiar behaviour – they were ThunderClan, the Clan that had always taken in kittypets, for StarClan's sake. Leopardpaw himself was part kittypet, from his great-grandfather, Firestar. He didn't really resent it, but he felt it was some sort of weakness, that would make cats look down upon him; but most cats forgot that Firestar was his great-grandfather; most cats thought that only Clan blood ran through his veins.

He was uncomfortable under their quiet stares. Although it was late newleaf, they still hadn't lost the gauntness that leafbare brought with it, the heavy-lidded eyes, staring and hungry, the thin pelts which bones and muscles stuck out of. He, for one, was well-fed, compared to most of them. As the Clan deputy's son, he assumed that he'd been certain privileges that others lacked – or, the warriors wanted to feed him and his sisters up because they were to be the next generation of warriors.

"Are you deaf?"

"Huh?" Leopardpaw turned around as Bramblestar's daughter, Petal, asked him a question. "I'm pretty sure I'm not deaf, thank you very much."

She shrugged, and limped forward a little faster, to catch up with him, her pawsteps hurried and uneven. She stumbled once or twice, but Leopardpaw didn't bother to turn and help her up, because he knew he'd just get snapped at, or possibly even scratched. He wouldn't put it beyond her.

"Don't they have anything better to do?" she asked in a whisper.

"They're curious," Leopardpaw frowned. "They want to know what you're like."

The golden apprentice then caught sight of the thunderous face of one of the warriors; he could almost see the storm clouds building up behind those accusing green eyes, the sound of her unsheathing her claws amplified a million times louder than it should be.

"Okay," he said slowly. "Run!"

Completely unprepared, Petal staggered after Leopardpaw as he shot through the crowd of cats, then looked around and noticed her stumbling, and ran back, sweeping her off her feet with one fluid movement and racing out of Camp. He stopped, breathless, by a large oak tree and put her down.

"What was that for?" she snapped indignantly, struggling to get up.

He raised his eyebrow and heaved her to her paws, causing another death-stare to be sent his way. He himself flopped down into the shade of the tree and yawned, showing large white teeth.

"What do you think it was for? If I hadn't been there, you'd have been mouse meat," he didn't bother looking at her.

"And why's that?" she questioned lightly, although he could tell that her tone was meant to be dangerous.

He opened an eye.

"So your mother hasn't told you about Squirrelflight, then? You know, the one that was Bramblestar's mate before Silver, and Bramblestar broke up with her because Squirrelflight pretended that Leafpool's kits were hers."

"Of course she has," Petal bristled indignantly. "I don't know what Squirrelflight looks like!"

"Well, now you do," Leopardpaw answered. "And by the way, I wouldn't try that paw slam movement on me – I can see your shadow. If you want to do it, move to the right so that your shadow will fall the other way. Besides, if you did manage to do it, you'd have a lot of questions to answer – but you probably wouldn't be able to, because I'm good at fighting. It's clear to me that you're not. How did you get that bruise? Get into a fight with a big bad alley cat?"

At that, Petal cracked, and flashed out a paw – only for it to be met, calmly, with a golden paw that had, in a matter of heartbeats, made its way from beneath him into the air to block her blow. She had to admit, then and there, that he was pretty good.

"See what I mean?" Leopardpaw meowed. "And, if you don't fall for my good looks and charm, my fighting skills will do it," he added, drawing his tongue across his paw.

Petal narrowed her eyes and snorted.

"You know, you fancy yourself _way _too much."

"StarClan, have you been boasting _again_, Leopardpaw?" an amused voice, that of a she-cat, came from the trees – a dappled brown she-cat, followed by a golden she-cat emerged. "I thought that after you had Cherrypaw padding after you that you were quite happy with the amount of attention you were receiving. Clearly not."

Leopardpaw rolled his eyes. _There goes my chances, _he thought. _Now that Dappledpaw and Sunpaw are here, they're going to make my life incredibly difficult; I won't have a chance to show off again with _them _here._

"Who are you?" Petal meowed curiously.

"Sunpaw," Sunpaw dipped her head, and then pointed to Dappledpaw. "That's Dappledpaw; we're Leopardpaw's sisters."  
"That explains it, then," Petal graced them with a rare smile – well, rare enough for her, anyway. "I have sisters; three of them, in fact."

"Oh, lucky you," Leopardpaw muttered sarcastically.

"When you've lost most of your family over the edge of an abyss and the rest are wondering around the StarClan forsaken mountains, you really begin to realise how much they mean to you," Petal growled.

"Let's hope he's never in that situation," Sunpaw said, laughingly. "He'd probably forget about us and move on with his life – find some she-cats to flirt with, no doubt."

Leopardpaw hated to admit it, but he probably would go after his sisters, even if they were the most annoying cats in the world. Life wouldn't be the same without them.

"Well, you're a bit like Crowfeather then, huh?" Petal said. "What do they say…like grandfather, like grandson?"

Her remark was incredibly ill-timed. Growling, Leopardpaw got to his paws and stalked away, storming through the trees with a scowl on his face.

"Ouch," he heard Dappledpaw say.

Cursing the silver she-cat to high heavens, he angrily slashed at a tree.

**Author's Note: Less of a cliffie, no? I'm thinking that next chapter we can go back to Blizzard, because it's been a long time since I left off there. I think I got two or three reviews. Please keep those reviews coming, I love reading them. Like always, a plushie to those that reviewed last time – let's have a Squirrelflight plushie, because I feel like one :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

_Petal & Shell_

"Hey," she said softly.

She approached his still figure as the moon was high in the sky, the stars glittering around it, insignificant beings in the presence of the moon. However, when the moon went down, the stars were the thing a lost cat looked for – a sign of hope, of courage, of strength. Many times when she was wandering listlessly on the mountaintop, she had looked to the stars for guidance; partly, it was because of her faith in StarClan. But to some cats, she knew, there was a real magic to them – Dimitri had somehow gone off in a tangent when they were discussing their escape route and commented on the beauty of the stars. _Dimitri's gone now, _she reminded herself, _I left him, I don't need him, and he's gone. I should stop thinking about him_.

That was like her telling herself not to approach Leopardpaw. She'd tried to fight down the urge to tell him how sorry she was, but then she'd be trying to pluck up the courage. Her emotions were truly mixed; she'd had to swallow a lot of her pride, for she thought that doing such things was a loss of face, to so much as move a paw in the golden apprentice's direction. And now, he was ignoring her. Ignoring _her_, when it had taken her a whole lot of effort to some up the courage – she shook her head. He was unbelievable.

"I'm sorry about earlier," she murmured, coming to sit beside him; this was not her at all, but she just couldn't help it.

_After all_, she reminded herself, _Squirrelflight would have personally seen to it that I was dead in the first few heartbeats she saw me. Thanks to Leopardpaw, I'm still alive to tell the tale. _Her limp had grown better throughout the day, but she still had to keep her front left paw above the ground, bent at an awkward angle, on Jayfeather's orders. She'd decided very quickly that she didn't like the medicine cat.

"Don't be," Leopardpaw replied in a strangled voice. "I don't want to injure your pride."

"Injure my pride?" she gave a breathy, unbelieving laugh. "You're sitting here, nursing your _own _pride, and you tell me you don't want to injure mine? Are you mad?"

Leopardpaw didn't answer – he stared vacantly at the large, round face of the moon, looking down at them from the midnight blue sky, dotted with wispy grey clouds. A chill wind picked up, filling the silence that hung between them with a whooping whistle, so different to that of the wind in the mountain. Petal couldn't detect the harsh shriek that usually found its way, somehow, into the sharp, melodious sound that echoed around the mountains.

"Lionblaze and Bramblestar were looked down upon," Leopardpaw said suddenly. "Bramblestar, early in life; Lionblaze, later – and yet look at them now," he laughed. "One's the leader, the other's the deputy."  
"And your point is?" Petal reverted back into her usual self, her eyes sparking briefly.

"My point? My point is that we could go places, do so much! I mean, what are we doing here? We're sitting around doing _nothing_! We could go and discover new places – what, for instance, is beyond that stretch of forest behind that ridge?"

"Twolegplaces," Petal said tiredly. "Look, I don't have time to listen to the inspirational speeches. You know what, Leopardpaw? I _envy _you. You have a family, here and present, a mother who isn't separated by taillengths upon taillengths of ground from your father, and a father that knows you. You live in a Clan, and you're training to become a warrior. You're seven moons old, Leopardpaw, and for all I care you'll be a warrior in a couple of moons. Me, my family is so messed up that there's no word to put to it; I'm two moons older than you and I haven't even started training to become a warrior. Sure, I know how to hunt, and I know how to fight, but I've never placed my feet on leaf-covered ground and _tried _to hunt, or _tried _to fight. I was born to be here, Leopardpaw, and I grew up in the mountains all because of some idiotic cat that died anyway. When I hear you condemning it, it makes me –" she stopped short, and looked around, eyes wide in realisation. "Wait," she said slowly. "Where's Echosong?"

Leopardpaw's face said it all – Echosong was dead. He'd barely even known the silver tabby, yet with the Clan he'd felt their sorrow. He'd seen the look on their faces when she'd been dragged into the Camp by Thornclaw, a mournful procession following. He'd felt the grief with them, although his memories of her were a precious few; it was the atmosphere that surrounded her death, he knew, but he felt a real grief that belonged to him when he remembered her death.

"Oh…" Petal trailed off, shaking her head. "I don't know how I'm going to explain this to Silver," she said breathily. "I promised her, I promised…"  
"How did you promise it to her? You didn't know she was going to fall into the abyss," he paused, staring at her quizzically. "Did you?"

"For StarClan's sake, I didn't!" she exclaimed loudly, and quieted down as she heard an angry growl coming from the warriors' den. "I promised her…I thought she was in StarClan, Leopardpaw," she said finally. "Is that wrong?"

"She fell into an abyss, Petal," he reasoned with her, his spotted tail curling around his golden paws. "I don't think there's anything wrong with having the slightest lapse of devoted believing when your mother fell into an abyss and you're doubting whether she's alive or not. Sometimes –," he stopped, trying to keep the tears from leaking out of the corner of his eyes, "– sometimes it takes a matter of time to get over a cat's death."

"Who did you know that died, Leopardpaw?" Petal asked gently, trying to recreate her usual façade, but failing to do so and settling with the softer her.

"I had a brother," he started slowly. "I never knew him, though – he died at birth. I didn't even know he existed, until that one night he visited me in his dream."

Petal frowned. Maybe she had a sibling that her mother had never told her about? No, that would be ridiculous. Silver, like her, was so forward and direct with everything, a little like Petal; except now, a quieter, less argumentative Petal had found its way to the surface. Her attention turned back to Leopardpaw, who had frozen beside her, his green eyes glazed over.

_Moonlight filtered gently onto the leaf-covered floor. The tom-kit padded slowly through the moonlit silver forest, his eyes stretched wide in wonder. Pungent flowers and blooming trees covered in a rustling green creeper leaned forward to meet him, offering their sweet scents to him. Curiously, he stopped and leaned into one of the large flowers, sneezing as the pollen found its way up his nose. He pawed at it gently, and hurriedly backed away when he tore the delicate petal that the flower had offered him so freely. He stumbled over a gnarled root, his short legs waving comically in the air for a heartbeat before he pushed himself to his paws and half-stumbled half-ran away from the blossoming glade._

_He was soon met by another smell; this time, the aroma drifted around him, not remaining in one place at a time. He looked for the cause searchingly, only to find himself looking into warm amber eyes – yet for some reason, they sent a chill through him._

"_Hello, young one," the cat greeted him; her translucent dappled pelt shimmered in and out of existence as the moonlight touched it. "I see you've made your way to StarClan. That's good, don't you think? There's someone here who wants to see you."_

"_Who are you?" he asked. _

"_I'm Spottedleaf," she smiled sadly. "You may have heard of me, young one. You have no need to fear. I died because I had too, it was my fate. I saw ahead, but I never tried to run from my cat because that was the path that StarClan had set me to walk, and if it was bad, or short, so be it. We all die eventually, Leopardkit. You know that. You don't need to be afraid of death."_

_He stared at her accusingly. How did she know he was afraid of death? It was a phobia that clung to him, and he was sure he would grow out of it in apprenticeship. Icecloud had told him that accepting death came more naturally to some than others._

_A small white tom-kit with golden eyes padded out from behind Spottedleaf; the similarity, the familiarity of those eyes, that pelt, took him in an instant – his mother's pelt, his father's eyes. Who was this kit? What did he want? Was he related to Icecloud and Lionblaze? _

"_Who are you?" Leopardkit asked rudely._

_The white kit stared at him. He didn't move, and he didn't say a thing, but he stared at Leopardkit in an unnerving way. Finally, Leopardkit looked away from the amber eyes that reminded him too much of how Lionblaze would look at him if he did something wrong._

"_I'm your brother," the kit replied. "My name is Whitekit. I died at birth. You wouldn't remember me." _

_Leopardkit looked at the other kit._

_And suddenly, his fear became worse._

"Leopardpaw!" Jayfeather's voice brought him back into reality.

He blinked open his eyes – he was lying on the grass-scattered ground of ThunderClan Camp, his fur clinging to his pelt. Petal was standing over him, glaring at him, but he knew she was hiding her concern; Jayfeather was next to her, a look of concentration on his face.

"What happened?" he asked.

"_You _ignored me, that's what happened," Petal answered sharply. "Then you started gasping for breath and muttering something that sounded like 'dead', and it turned out you were hallucinating."

"_Hallucinating_? I wasn't hallucinating! I was remembering something," Leopardpaw said angrily. "I don't hallucinate."

Petal smirked, tossing her sleek silver head.

"Oh, now you're denying things," she muttered sarcastically. "Isn't that perfect?"

Still muttering under her breath, she stalked over to the apprentice's den, where she'd been designated to sleep for the night. Leopardpaw pulled a face after her and rolled over onto his paws, nodding his thanks to Jayfeather. Slowly, dragging his feet, he followed the freshly-made trail to the apprentice's den.

xXx

A twig snapped.

Petal was awake instantly, leaping to her feet and racing out of the den, into the empty Camp. The large stone walls of it towered above her, and then they sloped down to make the safe entrance to the gorge. Tufts of grass poked their way through the gaps in the stone, and patches found their way out of the soil where the stone finished. Outside the nursery, a soft woven tangle of grass and kit's-ears formed a play area for the kits where they wouldn't get hurt. At the moment, it was only Tinykit in the nursery, but when new kits made their way into the Clan, and she was guessing that would be soon, judging by Rosepetal's rounded belly; she'd only seen the she-cat once, but she could judge, having spent moons in the nursery watching kit-mothers, as they called them, come in and leave, she knew whether a cat was expecting kits or not.

A leafbare chill still hung in the air; when the wind swept through the Camp, the tang of the mountain and of sharp, clean air came with it, sending shivers down the spines of all cats present. Petal could not feel it – her long, thick silver fur fell freely from her pelt, whereas other cats with short fur, like Leopardpaw, would shiver at the faintest suggestion of it. She was used to the mountains, and that was what made her used to the harsh weather that sometimes graced the ThunderClan forest.

Lingering scents found their way to her nose, and she realised a dawn patrol had just left. That's why she'd been woken up – one of the members had stepped on a twig. She breathed out a sigh of relief; she was no longer in the seemingly deserted streets of West Broadhinny, nor was she on the windswept mountains or running, alone yet joyful, through a lush green forest. She'd made it to the ThunderClan Camp, the place which her mother had told nursery tales about. This reminder made her thoughts turn to Ice, Eagle and Silver, who'd fallen down the abyss – and to Blizzard and Sky, who'd followed them in their fate. And what of Shell and Snow – were they alive? Of them, she did not know. The few brief snatches of conversation she'd had with Thunder had been interrupted, and she'd been angry, making her unwilling to reply, thus causing her sparse knowledge of the whereabouts of her mother and sibling.

"You're up early," Leopardpaw's voice found its way to her ears. "Next time you wake up this early, try and avoid stepping on my tail."

Petal closed her eyes, annoyed. _I always manage to do that_, she thought, _step on someone when I don't want to wake them up. That's why I'll never be a good hunter. _Taking in a deep breath, she looked behind herself, into Leopardpaw's frighteningly emotionless green eyes.

"Your tail shouldn't _be _in the way," she snapped, but somehow it felt unnatural.

"Well, it was, so it's your job to look out for it," he replied, a smirk creeping onto his face, which he quickly extinguished.

She rolled her eyes, sighed, and tossed her head, sitting down and wrapping her silver tail around her paws. To her great annoyance, Leopardpaw came and sat down beside her. Rising to her paws angrily, she stalked out of Camp, the scents of the dawn patrol washing over her – most were unfamiliar, but the one she recognised was that of Squirrelflight. She'd been annoyed, tired and slightly…_fearful _when she'd passed out of the entrance. But what was there to be frightened of? _Maybe she thought she was winning Bramblestar back over, _Petal realised, her paws instantly taking to a much-trodden prey trail, _and now that I'm here, she's frightened that Bramblestar will forget about her and remember Silver. Had Bramblestar forgotten about my mother? Was that it? I wouldn't think my mother was the unmemorable type._

"You do know that the rolling of your eyes and the tossing of your head does not perturb me in the slightest, don't you?" Leopardpaw asked rhetorically. "If you ignore me all day, I'll just pester you all day. I'll see how long this supposed 'patience' lasts."

"I don't think pestering me is a good idea," Petal warned, not bothering to move away as Leopardpaw padded up beside her. "I bite."

"Oh, I'm _so _frightened," Leopardpaw jibed.

"Is that good, or bad?"

"You choose," he answered.

Then she smelt it; the heavy and fresh scent of crowfood, accompanied by another smell, far fouler. She imagined the creature – its russet body, lightly covered in tawny fur, the white point of the tail and muzzle, and the small green eyes, slits even when they were as wide as possible. That sly look curling over their pointed, narrow, dog-like muzzle, the gleaming white fangs concealed beneath it, depicted everything she'd been taught to fear. There were some in the mountains, although their fur was a dim white, yet the same smell followed them around.

"Petal," he said fearfully. "It's behind us."

And as they turned around, they saw it – its wily, starved limbs, the hungry look on its muzzle, the dried blood beneath its cruel black claws. It lowered its white, blood-stained muzzle, so that it was staring directly into their eyes, and then, it attacked.

xXx

_She took a step back; she knew she was dreaming, but dreams got to her.  
"Shell, I'm your mother," the black-and-white she-cat stepped forwards. "I'm Falcer."_

"_My mother is _Silver_," Shell insisted, taking a scrambling step back for every step that Falcer advanced._

_A flicker of a smile passed over the she-cat's face. Distant, yes, but there – almost as if she were remembering something, a sweet memory, a memory she treasured. Her eyes glowed faintly for a heartbeat, and then returned to their usual, swirling amber-brown colour, deep and mysterious._

"_Yes, I must admit she did a good job raising you," Falcer agreed. "Better than I'd expected – I saw that she was going to have kits, and so I picked her to help me. I never realised that she'd actually treat you equally. I thought she'd get rid of you as soon as she possibly could, and then leave you to make your own way. I'm surprised that she even wasted so much energy on you, when she should have been raising her own kits. And from me, as well; a supposed rogue, an enemy of her Tribe."_

"_What do you mean, a 'supposed rogue'?" Shell asked, frowning._

"_I'm not a rogue, Shell, I'm a Clan cat," she meowed distantly. "A WindClan warrior, who ran away from her Clan, to be with the cat she loved. How foolish I was," she shook her head, grinning faintly. "The mountains are no place for a Clan cat, Shell, I soon realised that. I had no idea that Silver was a Clan cat until I died, and that she intended to take you back there. I thought maybe, some of the WindClan warriors might recognise my eyes, which you possess. But I doubt they will, you know. It was so long since Falconstrike drowned in a river."_

"_You're not a Clan cat," Shell spat. "You're a rogue, a pretend. You don't belong in the world of warriors."_

"_Maybe I do, Shell," Falcer's eyes darkened. "Maybe I do; when they come back, you'll see. He'll come with them, you know. He'll tell you. _He'll _tell you. He knows I'm a Clan cat. Once he comes, you'll know. You'll know that I really am a Clan cat, which you don't seem to be able to believe."_

"_Who is 'he'?" Shell growled._

"_I…I can't say," Falcer said hurriedly. "I've said too much. StarClan is angry with me now."  
"Falcer –"_

"_Mother," she interjected fiercely._

"Falcer_, I don't trust you. How do I know that you actually are my mother, you're not just some fake, pretending to be, to make me feel better, so I don't feel all alone and stranded in the mountains? How do I know?" _

"_Look into my eyes, Shell," Falcer said calmly. "Do you not see yours mirrored in them? Who else would I be, if not your mother? Would I waste my time with a cat like _you_?"_

_And with that, the black-and-white she-cat simply disappeared into the fog that had crept while they'd been talking. Shell didn't want to believe that this harsh, strange cat was her mother. This cat was foreign, never designed to be part of her life, yet somehow, she'd found a pathway back in._

It was the cold that woke her.

The freezing wind swept through the cave, even though it was buried in the heart of the mountain, finding its way through the slight opening into the nursery, which the queens shared with their kits. Beside her, Snow stirred, and Shell caught a glimpse of her bright blue eyes before they were shut again.

Rising to her paws, Shell slowly moved her stiff limbs until she was sitting upright, facing towards the bone-chilling winds of the outside world.

"You're awake," Sienna's soft voice made her start.

The blue-grey she-cat gently set down a scrawny mouse by Shell's paws, and then hesitantly came to sit beside the brown-and-cream tabby. Shell picked up the mouse in her jaws and started to devour it ravenously, only to stop when Sienna meowed,

"It's for sharing."

"Oh."

Shell put the mouse by her sister and returned to her place next to Sienna, very small in contrast to the fully-grown blue-grey she-cat.

"I can hardly believe that you are Storm's daughter, Shell," Sienna mewed.

"What do you mean?" Shell frowned.

"I've had my suspicions," the older she-cat explained. "You are Falcer's kit, but you had a different father, or that's what I think. I mean, look at you – she was black-and-white, he was a black tabby. I know that you are her daughter because you have her eyes, but you must be the daughter of someone else, who is certainly not Storm. Your brother, Thunder, is his kit, but not Falcer's. Storm must have given him to her because you were about the same age, and he was his son, and Falcer only had one kit."

"What about Snow?" the cream-and-brown she-cat asked hesitantly.

"I…I don't know," Sienna sighed. "Whoever's kit she is, I don't know."

She gave Shell a small sad, smile, her blue eyes growing smaller as she did so. Then, she turned and padded away, whisking her feathery tail off the ground with a smooth movement. Shell narrowed her eyes as the queen left her sitting by herself, the half-eaten mouse by her side. Her eyes flickered around the cave, and she felt trapped, with nowhere to run. A steady shaft of daylight managed to find its way through a crack in the roof of the cave, shining down on a small pool of water that was extremely cold, but had not frozen over. The light was welcome in this place, for without it, the entire cave would be dark. Up ahead, there were similar cracks in the cave roof, making way for the sunlight, as if it had been designed to do so.

Beside her, Snow stirred, blinking open her blue eyes. The white she-cat was small even in comparison to Shell, so it was no surprise that she was shivering, as the cold affected her more easily and with much more force. Shell, seeing she was awake, lay down next to her sister to warm her up.

"Sienna's hiding something."

"How do you know that?" Snow asked.

"I guessed. Yeah, yeah, I know you're really good at reading other cats' emotions and all that stuff, but it was really obvious. She thinks that my father wasn't Storm, that I have an entirely different father, and that you are completely unrelated to either me or Thunder. Apparently, Thunder isn't related to either of us. Doesn't that sound even _slightly _suspicious to you?" the tabby smirked.

"But you believe it," Snow said quietly.

"Well, some of the stuff she said made sense!" Shell said defensively, and then lowered her voice to a whisper. "I don't know about you, but I don't think I'll be needing to listen to Sienna any more."

"I have a feeling I won't, either," Snow replied in the same hushed voice.

The two cats shared a look that said everything. As the sun slowly made its way across the sky, they sat huddled together, whispering to each other, and making plans. Every so often, Shell saw a shadow fall across the light of the faint mountain sun, dimming the cave momentarily. And when the shadow came no more, for there was no light to block, they stood up and skirted around the edges of the cave silently. The smooth stone was slippery, covered in snow that had found its way down, but not once did one of them stumble or fall. For if they had, someone might have heard them.

**Author's Note: Sorry for the promised soon update that never came. It's because I started writing it that very same day and never got to finish it. I don't think this was my best chapter, but hopefully the next one will be better. Next chapter, I promise you, **_**will **_**actually be a Blizzard chapter. And also, this might have happened to some other people, but I find it really annoying – it says that my reviews don't exist when I try to reply to them, so, I'm going to reply to my reviews here.**

**Poisoned Amethyst: Wow, thank you! Lots of people (me included), only read stories if they have a few chapters to get through. I don't have much patience.**

**Priceless Cat Lady: You don't want to hear me sing. I'm awful :)**

**Coqui's Song: Well, I guess I didn't do much for a while from his point of view because the earlier chapters were only introducing him. Now when we see him, he'll be going into the action, like Petal has been for some nine or ten chapters. Did you know this story has sixty pages on a typed word document, excluding the Author's Notes? It's the longest story I've written as of yet, and it's only going to get longer.**

**Islanda: Sorry that I didn't bring Blizzard back into this chapter. But I promise you, next chapter, **_**we definitely will see Blizzard**_**. I promise!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

_Blizzard_

There she was.

Her jagged, pale grey-and-white pelt, her ice blue eyes, her slight figure – elegant and delicate, but beneath all that, their lay a ruggedness, of sleepless nights and invisible demons. Her usual fierce look had been washed away by moons of hunger and moons of constant watching and waiting. Her fur was longer, and much more jagged than he remembered, less reminiscent of kit-hood than it had been two moons ago when she'd fallen. Her eyes had a strange depth to them, a certain wisdom acquired by age. Her legs were much longer than they had been, looking spindly but strong.

And there she was, standing on the same ledge as him, a look of pure shock on her face. He knew that he'd have a livid bruise on the side of his head, where he'd hit the ice, and upon his legs. Otherwise, he was fine, so he struggled to her paws, whilst she continued to watch him in astonishment.

"I…saved you," she gasped, out of breath, unable to process the thought. "When you were falling, I made you fall onto this ledge. I saved you," she repeated.

She shook her head, and her eyes cleared, and she once again became the logical, clear-headed cat he knew. Her eyes flickered over him, taking in his ribs that were oh-so-obvious beneath his thick fur, his white dappled grey pelt, and his amber eyes. She moved forward, pressing against him and purring – her mind had clearly got over the fact that he was here, and now she was happy. He noted, somewhat surprised, that none of her bones were obvious, and she looked surprisingly well-fed for having lived in an abyss for two moons.

"You're alive," she purred. "I thought you'd all die within the first week. Eagle is fine, by the way, Blizzard. It's just Silver I'm worried about," she narrowed her eyes nervously. "I think she's contracted a fever. I wish Stoneteller was here – he'd know how to make her better. How's everyone else?" she added, obviously wanting to change the subject.

_Oh StarClan, _Blizzard thought, _why does she have to ask me that? Am I supposed to answer, 'oh yes, Petal ran away, Shell's distraught, Snow's being annoying to cover up being worried, most of us haven't eaten for a while, Sky's his usual quiet self, and Thunder…' _he stopped short, _'…and Thunder pushed me over the ledge'. How is that going to make her feel? Even _more _worried than she is now?_

"Everyone's fine," he sidestepped her question cautiously.

Blizzard knew immediately by her narrowed eyes that she didn't believe him. She glared at him, at ease on the thin stone and ice ledge that was surely going to snap any minute. Her stance said it all – she wasn't going to move until he told her the truth.

"What aren't you telling me?" she asked.

"Petal ran away," Blizzard answered with a shake of his head. "She ran away from the rest of us, and I don't know whether she's alive or not. Shell doesn't like the fact that Petal's gone and she's sulking and doesn't really know how to deal with it. Snow's worried, so she's being annoying instead. Sky's being his usual quiet and thoughtful self, and…" he trailed off.

"And what about Thunder?" she pursed her lips.

He stared into her eyes. Calm, but dissatisfied. Annoyed, but still retaining their coolness. She was frustrated that he wasn't telling her everything.

"This might be difficult for you to hear, Ice," he said finally; he knew how close she and Thunder had been. "Thunder – he pushed me over the edge; into the abyss."

"You're lying," she meowed, although there was a certain desperate edge to it. "I know you're lying. You can't lie to me, because I can tell."

"Then you know that I'm not lying to you," he replied. "Believe me, if I could change what happened, I would. But I can't, and you're just going to have to accept the fact that he did what he did."

Ice swallowed. She took in a deep breath, staring at him evenly and trying to fight back the tears that fell freely but unwontedly out of her eyes. The biting wind and the chill air made them freeze on her face, and she brushed them away angrily, not wanting to show any signs of weakness in front of him. She closed her eyes briefly, pressing the tears back, and then opened them again.

"Follow me," she said tightly, flicking her tail.

The slender she-cat, pressing close against the icy wall of the abyss, carefully took a step down onto a precarious and very narrow ledge below them. She then moved her other paw down to join it, and then put her left feet down at the same time, using their power to jump onto a lower, more stable ledge. She moved out of the way so that Blizzard could copy her almost impossible actions. He was worried that the projection wouldn't hold his weight, unlike Ice, whose narrow frame and light weight could tread on the thinnest piece of ice without breaking it. He placed one foot down, resting his weight on it, and felt it trembling beneath him, even though only one paw was on it. He dreaded how it would react if he followed with his second paw, but, despite all feelings of dread, he followed up with his other front paw and then jumped down with both hind paws, and, like Ice had but less gracefully, used the rebound to land himself on the ledge below, just as the ledge he'd been standing on heartbeats before crumbled into nothingness.

"Thanks," Ice growled with a roll of her eyes. "Now I have to find another way up, you great lump."

"My pleasure," he said in reply.

Although she sounded angry and cross, Blizzard knew that calling him a 'great lump' was a sign of affection. There was no doubt that recently, there'd been a lot of expectation placed on her by Eagle, and she was under great stress. There was something about him that made you want to follow his orders, no matter how ridiculous or fantastical they were. He had a sense of commanding about him, something which Silver didn't possess.

They continued down the frozen walls of the abyss in a similar fashion, Ice leading the way with her sylph-like body. Her pale grey-and-white fur sometimes disappeared into their surroundings, but emerged quickly when she moved. Soon, they had reached the bottom, its frozen depths stretching on forever and ever. Everything looked the same – ice and snow, littered with snow drifts, and the occasional rock peeping out from beneath the snow. Ice, however, led the way easily, sliding across the ice in a kit-like manner, and scrambling through the snow with ease, winding her way through the tall cliffs that rose on either side, the cliffs that formed the boundaries of the abyss.

"So if you know how to get up there, why can't you get out of here?"

Ice threw a sweeping glance around the cliffs.

"They are not totally impassable, I admit," she answered. "I can get up there. The pathway up, where I found you, was probably the only one which allowed me to reach the top. Eagle couldn't stand on some of the ledges – we tried. You know the ones that you broke? Those are the ones which he nearly broke. So, every day, I journey up to the top and hunt. I've been trying to look for you so you can come down and help me; Petal would have been useful, seeing as she's not too heavy, as would Shell and Snow. I never found any of you until today. I was just going to go hunting when you fell out of the sky. I was hoping you'd be in a better shape," again, she glanced pointedly at his ribs, which were visible because he'd lost so much weight. "There is another way, Blizzard – a literal path that goes back up to the mountains. Silver found it, and she said it was wide and could easily hold the weight of all of us, because it's made out of the mountain itself."

"What's the catch?" Blizzard asked.

"There are caves along the path, and they're home to several families of foxes," she shook her head. "That's why Silver's injured, and that's why I was hoping you'd be in better shape – so that we could fight our way up there. Now, I'm going to have to find another path so I can hunt."

"It might be a more dependable path," he added hopefully.

"Take a look at this place, Blizzard," she said, almost wistfully. "Look around you, at the small footholds and narrow ledges that the walls provide; the chance that there is a more dependable path besides Fox's Lair is close to nothing."

"Fox's Lair?" Blizzard questioned, his whiskers twitching.

"Well, if you're stuck somewhere, you start wanting to have names for things," Ice responded lightly. "For example, the path that I just took you down was Sparrow Path," she smiled fondly. "Silver said that sparrows are light-footed animals, and they're very small, so they alone of the forest animals would be able to make it down that path. All around us now are the Deserted Plains; and the place where we live is known as the Silent Caves. In fact, you're standing in front of them right now."

"What?" he came to a stop.

The journey hadn't taken very long. He realised the abyss must be less vast than he thought. The distance from Sparrow's Path to the Silent Caves couldn't be more than five hundred or so foxlengths from each other. He realised how trapped Ice, Eagle and Silver were feeling, cooped up in here. Compared to the vast stretches of territory the Tribe of Rushing Water had, this was a small amount of space. It was probably the enormously tall walls of the abyss that made everything seem so large.

"This is it," Ice flashed him a smile, slightly sad and obviously forced. "These are the Silent Caves."

He saw, just by looking at them, that they were small, hollowed-out shells. They had a very small holding capacity, and probably did nothing to keep out the incredibly cold winds that racked the abyss. In the space of time that he'd been here, he'd experienced what was hardly the least of its fury, yet it still left his fur standing on end and his blood running cold through him. His slender sister must have gotten used to it by now, judging by the fact that she didn't bat an eye whenever the wind swept through.

Hurried pawsteps made Blizzard look into the darkness of the caves. The first thing that he saw were blue eyes. The next thing he made out was a dark tabby pelt, emerging from one of the smaller caves.

"Ice, you're –" Eagle broke off, his eyes on Blizzard.

"I know I'm back early," Ice offered, filling the silence. "It's just I bumped into Blizzard; well, actually he bumped into me, if you want to put it literally. I thought I should bring him back. He might be some help, you know. The great fat lump also broke the ledges, so I need to go and find another way up."

However, what Ice had to say was the least of Eagle's worries. Both toms grinned at each other, and Blizzard walked forward, joining Eagle at the entrance. The two toms exchanged an affectionate greeting, which involved much cuffing and blows which would have knocked Ice clean off her feet. Once or twice they guffawed at some joke the other had made, and then walked into the cave, Eagle leading the way. Ice sighed, rolled her eyes, and followed her brothers in, running after them to catch up.

"Once you're done," she interrupted. "You can tell me how Silver is."

"No better, I'm afraid," Eagle shrugged. "I don't think she has a fever, though, she's perfectly lucid. The cuts are inflamed, but we have precious little herbs around here, none at all, and all we have is snow, and anything you can find on or in a fox."

Blizzard and Eagle laughed, and the latter of two cuffed Blizzard around the head, just where his large bruise was. The grey tom let out an exclamation of pain, but then began to laugh again.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny," Ice rolled her eyes once more. "You two are bad influences on each other. Blizzard, you're coming with me to see Silver. Eagle, go find something to eat. For our sakes, so that I don't have to hear you two make bad jokes and cuff each other wherever you can repeatedly. Remember to tell me that you two are sleeping in different caves."

"Sure," Eagle shrugged, and then, sharing one last laugh with Blizzard, turned and walked out of the cave.

Once Ice was sure that Eagle was out of hearing distance, she shook her head again, raising her eyebrow at Blizzard.

"You two," she snorted.

"If you were a tom, you'd understand," Blizzard said defensively.

"But I'm not, am I?" she asked. "Come on. I'd best take you to Silver, now. She's probably the best she's been in days, but, if we don't get help down here soon…"

She left the words hanging. Blizzard knew that if she was looking at him now, she would not be able to control the tears that would be spilling out of her eyes – but she had her back turned and she was walking briskly through the caves, ducking here and there to avoid the stalactites that hung from the roof of the cave.

"Ice?" the voice came out of nowhere, making Blizzard jump.

"Silver," Ice greeted her mother.

The silver tabby she-cat had not benefited from her trip to Fox's Lair. Scratches laced her silver pelt, most of them red and inflamed and emitting an unhealthy heat. One eye was swollen to a close, the scratch running above it pushing the eyelid down. She'd been lucky that she hadn't been scratched in the eye. Her pelt hung off her – she'd seen better, more prey-filled days than this. Her claws had been left to grow to an unnatural length, so that they scraped against the rocky ground. It was hard to imagine her two moons ago, the strong and dependable leader of the group, guiding them carefully over the mountain.

"Blizzard, is that you?" Silver's scratchy voice was shocked.

"Yes, Silver," Blizzard answered. "Yes, it's me."

"Did you fall?"

For a heartbeat, he was tempted to answer with a sarcastic, 'no, I decided to fly down here instead, and I'm going to fly back up again soon'. It was the kind of humour that his mother appreciated, but he realised, from the reprimanding look that Ice gave him, that now was not the time.

"Yes."

"Oh. What about Petal and the others? Are they okay?"

If Blizzard had answered that question, Ice would have surely ripped his throat out. He'd never been the best liar, especially when everything was too serious for him. On the other hand, Ice, with her responsible attitude and calm and commandeering ways, could wriggle out of any situation with a series of believable lies. It seemed that every lie Ice told was thrice as easy to believe as any Blizzard told. She also had the gift of remembering her lies, a quality which he lacked to the extreme.

"Blizzard's told me all about it," Ice assured Silver. "Everyone else is fine. He slipped on a bit of ice, but he's fine too."

The lie came so easily out of his mouth that he wondered how many times she'd lied before without him knowing about it. If there was one person that you wanted to put in your strictest confidence, it was Ice, for if you could not come up with a good lie in a matter of heartbeats, she'd step in for you and make up some oddly sensible lies, that, out of anyone else's mouth, would have sounded like a lie.

Silver grunted briefly before closing her blue eyes. Ice shot a concerned glance at Blizzard, but he shook his head flatly; he had no idea what to do. They needed Snow. Right now, despite how annoying the white she-cat was, Snow was the only cat that they wanted or needed. An extra set of paws might be good, too, but nothing could help more than Snow's soothing paws, which had been set on the path of healing at birth.

Another look passed between the two siblings; Blizzard narrowed his eyes and shook his head again, marching out of the den and almost tripping over Silver's tail. Ice followed him, only speaking once they were out of the darkness of the caves.

"Do you _ever _look where you're going?"

"Do I have to?" he raised his eyebrows.

"I'd be surprised if you just lost your footing and fell into the abyss, and in your embarrassment told me that Thunder pushed you," she said tartly. "You just –" she stopped. "I'm sorry," she muttered, and stalked off.

It was disturbing how quickly her white and pale grey faded into the blank landscape. For someone like him, it would be hard to blend in so easily. _I could pretend to be a rock, _he thought to himself, and let out a dry, choked laugh that wasn't really a laugh. _If Petal were here, she'd make some comment about me being as thick as a rock, or as solid. And then Ice would tell her off and they'd both laugh, and then they'd go off on some tangent and end up talking about something completely different. Shell would join them, or already be with them, and Eagle, Thunder and I would be talking with each other. Sky and Snow would be somewhere else. Silver would be up ahead, walking forwards briskly. And maybe…maybe Brambleclaw would be there, and we'd know who he was or what he looked like. Silver always said he looked like Eagle, but with my eyes._

"Did Ice abandon you and then disappear into the snow?" Eagle asked, appearing suddenly.

"Yes," Blizzard answered, faintly surprised. "How did you guess?"

Eagle grinned, his blue eyes sparkling. They were very much like their mother's, except, where Silver's held a light of severity and sarcasm, his were laughing and joking, yet when the occasion asked for it, they became serious and leader-like.

"She's been a bit moody lately," he replied.

"Tell me about it," Blizzard grinned.

For some reason, they both found something incredibly amusing in that sentence, and they laughed yet again, merely for the sake at having little amusement in their lives at the present moment. When they stopped, breathless and sides still heaving, Blizzard noticed that Eagle had returned empty-pawed, and raised his eyebrows in question, something he did often.

"Have you been hunting around here?" Eagle asked. "There's literally nothing around here. There's the odd mouse that fell down and broke its neck, or a bird that suddenly died in midair and plummeted to the ground – by the way, you'd be lucky if that didn't hit you on the head – and that's pretty much all that you'll find. The rest has been buried under snowdrifts. Usually, Ice gets all the food for us by journeying up those incredibly fragile ledges. I'm surprised that she hasn't fallen yet. She'll probably be finding a new pathway up now; what with you destroying all of it with your weight, you 'great lump' as Ice would call you."

"Yes, apparently only she-cats are good enough to climb to the top," the grey tom chuckled. "Toms are too heavy – they'd break the ledges and fall down the mountains, and break their necks in the process."

"That sounds like the Ice I know," Eagle smiled. "She's always thought that she-cats are the only sensible ones, and that toms spend too much time acting tough and brave and showing off and chasing after she-cats, whilst she and the others get the real work done."

They were alerted by a shriek, and they both turned their heads in the direction it had come from. Without even looking at each other, the two toms set off in a run, the snow flying up beneath their feet as they went. Blizzard streaked ahead, being the faster runner of the two because of his longer, more muscular legs. Eagle was only a little way behind him, so the grey tom was the first to spot Ice running as fast as she could towards them, her grey-and-white pelt moving up and down rhythmically. A mixture of emotions – fear, horror, shock – sparkled in her ice blue eyes, and Blizzard slowed to a halt, Eagle crashing into him, as Ice skidded in front of them. She let out a strangled gasp, something between a sigh and sob.

"You have to come and see this," she said, her voice strangely calm for the panicked look upon her face.

She turned and padded away from them, and all they could do was follow. They'd walked a couple of foxlengths before they finally stopped, and Ice stepped aside to let them see, averting her eyes.

And there, his body lying twisted and broken in the snow, was Sky.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm sorry. I love cliffhangers - that is, only when I write them, not when I read them. I'm sure we're all the same. Did you know that Spottedleaf was Tigerstar's aunt, as was Willowpelt? Meaning that Darkstripe, Graystripe, Sorreltail, Rainwhisker and Sootfur were his cousins? Weird, huh? And that means Whitestorm was Tigerstar's cousin-in-law, although I don't think they have in-laws when they're warrior cats. *shrugs* They never mention it on the book. Oh yeah, and Sky was never going to make it...so that means he's dead. Sorry if you liked him, but that's why I tried to have as little of him as possible so that you wouldn't get too attached to him. Okay, review replies before I forget.**

**halfmoon9764: Thanks! It's good to see new readers.**

**Shmancy-Fancy-Kitteh: Well, it was good that reading the first one cleared things up a bit for you.**

**Islanda: I hate it when FanFiction stuffs up. So annoying, right?**

**Priceless Cat Lady: *stares* Yes, I agree, the first bit was a bit...odd? Oh well, love the haiku - brings back memories of having to write lots and lots of haikus for a project a couple of years ago. It was bor-ing. You sort of get used to how you have to write it, so they come more easily to you when you've practised writing them before.**

**Coqui's Song: That's a _lot _of pages. This isn't quite up to that yet; this chapter makes it 64. And, well, here's Blizzard's chapter. And I finished Mockingjay! You have to read it before I tell you all the spoilers.**

**Five reviews! I'm so happy! Can you also check out my other story, which only has one chapter as of yet, which is _Reminisce_? I promise you I'll update The Abyss as a first priority, though. And let's keep it this way. I figured out that it in five more chapters I'll have one hundred reviews *dances*. See, you're making me dance and I'm such a bad dancer. **


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

_Petal_

There had been harsh words spoken that day.

There had been accusations of traitors, deserters, and cats who tore their Clan apart, mostly spilling from the very barbed tongue of Lionblaze. Petal would have probably been proud to say half the things he'd said, and quickly answered him with cutting remark after cutting remark, but still hadn't been able to equal his venom. Lionblaze was angry. Very, very angry. And a very, very angry Lionblaze was probably not the best kind of Lionblaze to have.

She didn't really care, though. That's what she told herself, anyway. He could say what he liked, call her what he liked, but it would never break her or hurt her in any way; maybe it wouldn't have, in the past. Now, though - after where she'd been, what she'd experienced in the short space of several sunrises, it might only take a few more sharp, ill-placed words to shatter her heart.

The patrol to find Silver had been sent out, even after the sharp protests of Lionblaze. Bramblestar had told Lionblaze that he was to lead the Clan with Thornclaw as his deputy whilst he was away, and ordered Petal, Whitewing, Brackenfur and Leopardpaw to come with him. She'd thought that Leopardpaw was a strange choice, seeing as he was only an apprentice, but when she'd asked Bramblestar he'd just stared at her and said,

"So are you."

Which she hadn't liked very much. She was Petal, not Petal_paw_. She wasn't even sure whether she wanted to be an apprentice any more.

"I've been places, though," she'd protested. "I've seen things, fought cats that Leopardpaw wouldn't be able to handle."

He'd tilted his head, as if considering something, and then stared at her with a frown pressed upon his brow.

"Why are you so adamant that he shouldn't come?" Bramblestar had asked.

At that, she'd flushed and marched away, deciding to avoid answering that question. She'd wondered why he wanted Leopardpaw to come. Maybe as...companionship? She didn't need companionship, she only needed cats to help her, and once she didn't need them any more she was quick to leave them behind. In truth, it was probably because she felt no personal loyalty to any of the cats she'd met on her journey - Snitch, Dimitri and Amarthy had just been cats that she could easily leave behind and never need to see again. The only cats she'd ever felt loyalty towards were Silver and her real siblings; any loyalty she'd ever had towards Thunder, Shell and Snow had worn thin when she'd met her foster brother in Broadhinny. The truth he'd revealed there had made her hate him more than anything else, not feel sorry for him. He'd probably been hoping for the latter from her, but the emotions of pity and sympathy were out of her league. They were weak emotions. And she wasn't weak.

The small patrol had reached the grove of oaks where she and Dimitri had sheltered only days ago. Instinctively, she flexed her shoulder, wincing as she remembered hitting it on the can, and the days she'd had to spend limping around Camp with everyone looking at her swollen shoulder before even glancing at her face. She'd been annoyed and had often been tempted to cuff the cat who'd looked at it, but had decided that wouldn't earn her many friends. Not that she _wanted _friends, but she needed them so they'd help her find Silver and her siblings.

She padded on, glancing sideways at the grove of oaks and then looking at her companions - she'd never really talked to Whitewing, and the she-cat seemed to be quite gentle and un-opinionated, which made Petal like her. She was reasonably young, and was very sweet in personality, always offering a cheery comment in answer to Petal's sharp, annoyed ones. She was good for the atmosphere, Petal decided; that was why Bramblestar had taken her along, so nothing got to tense. Hopefully she was good at fighting, too, because Petal knew that at some point, claws would need to be unsheathed and things would need to be settled with little diplomatic conversation, which Bramblestar seemed all too fond of at times.

Brackenfur was one of the older, more experienced warriors. He was quiet and strong, and only ever seemed to talk to Bramblestar in a quiet, rather hushed voice. He'd only spoken once, and that was in order to answer Whitewing's question about what some kind of tree was. Something about his steady amber gaze unnerved her, and whenever he made eye contact with Petal she flinched and looked away, staring hard at the ash beneath her paws and scuffing it up with each step that she took.

They were moving at a slower pace than she would have liked. She herself would have been moving much faster, running even, just in the hope that she'd get to Silver faster. As a group, though, as Bramblestar had reminded them before they set off, they had to be considerate of the wishes of other members, and keep pace with the patrol and not charge off ahead. She had a feeling his words were mainly directed at her, so she'd given him her signature glare and toss of the head. When he'd asked all for their agreement, he hadn't seemed very convinced with Petal's growled 'yes', and had to ask her several times before he was satisfied.

"Hey! Dreamer!"

She jerked her head upright, her face gentle for a heartbeat as she rested her gaze on Leopardpaw. Then, quickly, she turned into a glare, but not before Leopardpaw saw it and grinned, nudging her sore shoulder heavily with his. Despite her superior age, he was the same size, if not bigger than her, something that annoyed her a lot, and also sent her stumbling at that point in time.

"So you _do _have a softer side," he teased, flicking her ear with his tail.

"Oh, ha ha," she snarled, wanting to claw the smug expression off his face. "Now I know it's you, I'd gladly assist in your murder if it were to take place here."

"Fox-dung," Leopardpaw swore. "How come it's so much easier to kill a monster than get nice words from you?"

"So, basically, you're saying it's impossible?" she asked loftily. "Well, you're right. I don't even talk to cats I like nicely."

"Why does your appearance have to be so deceiving?" he meowed.

She stiffened promptly, bristling, and turned to him with a half-angry half-incredulous look on her face. _If he just said what I think he said..._she trailed off, _well, he certainly doesn't want to be alive any more._

"What are you implying?" she asked suspiciously.

He brightened up immediately, letting out a chuckle before saying anything. He shook his head with a sigh, fixing her with his amused green eyes and twitching his right ear. _Oh, this is going to be fun_.

"What do you think I'm implying?" he answered. "I'm saying your pretty. Gee, you are so clue -" he broke off, narrowly avoiding a swipe that Petal had aimed at him, her claws unsheathed. "Temper, temper. You should be taking examples from Whitewing over there. She's as sweet as can be."

"You are so dead."

"Am I? I don't think I am," he mock-frowned, pretending to look confused.

"You know what I mean," she hissed. "Once I don't need you any more, you'll be hunting in StarClan."

"You need me, do you? Now _that's _interesting," he smirked. "I wonder what you need me for?"

Petal opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by a yowl from Whitewing. The white she-cat looked confused and alarmed, and was prodding at something with her paw, shaking her head over and over again. Bramblestar and Brackenfur caught up, and the golden brown tabby took a step back and exchanged a glance with Bramblestar.

The silver she-cat bounded over, ignoring the nagging pain in her shoulder, and stopped short when she caught a glimpse of what was lying there. It was a cat, livid green eyes staring straight up at the sky. The cat's blue-and-white head had been rolled over to one side, and there was a huge red gash across her throat. Her paws lay splayed upon the ground, limp and lifeless. She hadn't been dead long, clearly, as her body was still warm to the touch and blood was still pooling out of the wound, staining the thick grey ash a vibrant red.

Though sarcastic and threatening to kill Leopardpaw only moments before, her heart leapt into her throat and almost choked her. Only a few days ago, this cat had been up, and bouncing, and cheery, chattering with Trapeze about going into the East Side. Now, Shirley lay dead upon the ashen field outside West Broadhinny, killed in cold blood. No-one had a reason to kill Shirley. She'd never done anything wrong, besides being annoying. But this...despite her threats, she could never kill a cat. Never.

This was bad. But when she looked up, she decided things were worse than just bad. Standing around them in a vicious circle, seemingly melting out of the soot beneath their paws, were the Guardians of the Night. And even worse, looking angry, foreboding, and ready to kill, was the second-in-command; Snitch had arrived, and was not at all pleased with what he saw.

* * *

"So you've returned to settle your score, have you, Petal?" Snitch sneered, fixing his eyes on Petal. "I must admit, Dimitri was half-mad and frantic with worry when he came back - so mad, even, that he asked for our help. He was easy to take care of. It's a shame he can't be with us any more, isn't it?"

"He was _nothing _to me!" Petal snarled, unsheathing her claws. "And you never were, either. I don't have friends, Snitch. I don't _need _friends."

"Petal, who is this cat?" Bramblestar muttered.

She appeared not to hear him, and Snitch paid no attention to him either. The thin, pale brown tabby tom's eyes were flickering over every member of the party, and then narrowed when he saw Leopardpaw, who was standing rather protectively by Petal's side and appeared to be facing off with a member of the Guardians of the Night.

"Oh. I see," he meowed dryly.

She glared at him, confused, and followed his gaze towards Leopardpaw. She looked from one to the other, and then at Snitch's face, and realised what he was thinking.

"It's not like that," she spat. "I don't need to answer to you with everything I choose to do. And I don't need to waste my time with you. I have things to do, and they don't involve cornering a group of five cats with fifty."

Snitch answered her glare with his own, tilting his head in a calculating way and staring at her for a long time, his hooked, unsheathed claws creating lines through the ash as he flexed them over and over again. He stepped forwards, almost hesitantly, and took in the sight before him; he then flicked his tail and marched towards them.

"Stoner! O'Rourke! Come on over here!"

The two identical grey toms shoved through their crowd, their muzzles just as squashed as ever and their amber eyes blazing. Instinctively, Petal stepped aside to let them past, as did Leopardpaw and the ThunderClan warriors. She felt like shrinking back into the shadows as Stoner and O'Rourke passed, their foul, putrid-smelling breath raising the hairs on her pelt. They picked up Shirley together and walked away, swinging her between them with little respect for the dead she-cat. Snitch now stood in the middle of them, his hard gaze still upon Petal, and seemingly not fazed by the muscular cats that stood behind him.

"Why is she dead?" Petal asked, her voice trembling with anger.

He raised an eyebrow, as if surprised.

"Her loyalties somehow lay with you, Petal," he answered. "As soon as she saw you approaching, she tried to bounce over you to warn you and tell you to turn back. Not only could we not have caught you, but we have no room for traitors in the Guardians of the Night."

The tabby she-cat saw Bramblestar stiffen at the mention of traitors, and he seemed a whole lot more angry than he originally had when they'd been caught. Maybe this was the time when the diplomat in Bramblestar disappeared completely and he became ruthless and battle-hungry, ready to fight any cat that came his way.

Snitch suddenly spun round on his heel to look at Brackenfur and Bramblestar. Snitch may be quite large, but both toms were larger, and if they'd wanted to they could have easily pinned him between the two of them. But there was some kind of power around Snitch, some sense of supremacy, that made any cat, no matter if Snitch were a stranger to them, wary of the tom. He wasn't to be judged lightly, that was for sure.

"Who are you?" Bramblestar asked calmly, still managing to maintain the façade of a confident leader.

"I might ask you the same question," Snitch replied.

"You might," the darker brown tom meowed.

Snitch narrowed his eyes, as he always did when he was judging someone. It was as thought it made him see better, although it only made his eyes smaller; so maybe it was just a habit.

"You're a leader, aren't you?" he stated.

"So are you," Bramblestar said cryptically.

"Second-in-command, actually, but yes, you're close. You know, I like how you think. I could offer you a position in the Guardians of the Night, if you'd like to take it. You look strong, and so does ol' silent over there," Snitch jerked his head in Brackenfur's direction, who raised his eyebrows at his name.

"'Ol' silent' and I are already part of our own group, thank you very much," Bramblestar said coldly.

"Ah, I see," Snitch responded. "And would that group be interested in fighting against that East Side?"

"Only if you let us go," the ThunderClan leader replied promptly.

"You're good with your words," the pale brown tom observed. "We will let you go, on one condition."

"What would that condition be?" Bramblestar asked.

"We keep Petal."

Petal thought he was seriously considering it when he stared at her for some time and frowned thoughtfully. His gaze drifted around the ashen field, rested on every cat present once or twice and then up at the sky, before settling back upon Snitch.

"If I said yes, how do I know you would keep your word? If I said yes, how do I know you'd let me pass through your territory? If I said yes, how would I continue on in my journey with the guilt of leaving someone behind? If I said _yes_, how could I ever live with myself again if I gave away my daughter to some strange vagabond I met upon the way, so that I could continue on safe and sound? How would I justify that to my mate? How would I justify that to Petal's siblings? And most importantly, how could I ever justify that to myself?" his words became more and more heated as he went on, and Snitch's expression grew from being satisfied to being astounded.

He looked between father and daughter, as if trying to find similarity between to the two, and slowly calmed himself down, allowing a faint, satisfied expression to settle back upon his face, although inside, his thoughts were a turmoil of questions.

"Well, I suppose that complicates things a little," Snitch said hesitantly, turning around to look at the two apprentice-age cats. "I think we'll all head off to the prison, don't you?"

His words were greeted by a rumble of agreement from all the surrounding Guardians of the Night, although some looked a bit disappointed that there would be no battle or bloodshed.

"I'm not moving," Whitewing said softly.

Snitch spun around and rounded on her, turning his back on Petal and Leopardpaw.

"What did you say?" he asked, his tone dangerously calm.

"I'm not moving," she repeated firmly. "I don't take orders from anyone except my Clan leader. Last time I checked, uh..._Snitch_, you weren't my Clan leader."

Whilst Whitewing mouthed a 'thank you' to Petal, Snitch stared at the white she-cat with his mouth hanging open. _How does she know my name? I haven't mentioned it, and neither has anyone else! _

"Have we met before?" he asked.

Whitewing glanced at him thoughtfully.

"I don't believe we have," she said. "But let me tell you a little about me. About _us_. Bramblestar," she flicked her tail towards the brown tabby tom, "is the leader of our Clan. Brackenfur," she gestured to the other tom, "is a senior and experienced warrior. Leopardpaw, who is standing behind you next to Petal, is an apprentice. I am the medicine cat; my duty is to heal those that are injured, and to speak with those that walk amongst the stars. I have been given the gift of sight - I can see what is to come and what has been. You are Snitch. You are the second-in-command of the Guardians of the Night. You answer to..." she trailed off and pretended to close her eyes, but instead lidded them until they were almost shut and tilted her chin, looking at Petal for the answer, "...yes, that's right. He's known as the Betrayer. You and he are close friends, aren't you? I think you call him Krypt. These cats around you are the cats who are in the Guardians of the Night. They listen to you, but on the occasion when they are graced with the presence of this _Krypt_, they only listen to him because he rules with an iron paw."

"Petal told you that," he accused her.

"No," Whitewing fixed him with her steady, green eyes. "StarClan told me that. StarClan knows the truth about every cat, and can see into their hearts. I know your darkest secret, the one that you protect with your life, but I shall not utter it unless you refuse to let us go."

Leopardpaw and Petal shared a glance - Bramblestar had made the right choice taking Whitewing with them. She may not look like much, but she was resourceful, and knew which trick to play and when. By now, Snitch was trembling, in either fear or anger. The look he gave to Whitewing was full of fear, and something else...was that respect? Then, he turned around and stared hard into Petal's eyes.

"Let them go," he said, his voice soft yet still holding a commanding, dangerous tone.

"But, sir -" Stoner, or O'Rourke, broke in.

"I said, let them go!" he growled, rounding on the two toms, who both nodded submissively.

Slowly, the crowd of cats parted, allowing a space for the ThunderClan cats to get through. Petal shivered in relief, stepping forward, feeling freedom in her paws once again. But as she passed Snitch, his whispered threat sent a shiver down her spine.

"_No matter how hard or how far you run, one day, I will find you_."

* * *

**I have some apologising to do. Sorry to all my readers! The first two weeks were pure laziness, and then my laptop broke, and it's still being fixed, so I had to find time to get on an iPhone so I could write this. I'd actually started it before my computer broke, so I had to restart it again. I'm actually happier with this chapter than the original one. I tried to make it longer, but I just don't have any time, because I'm going on holiday. This will be the last chapter for a week or so. Hopefully I'll have my computer back soon. And look, Coqui, I managed to write it in the small space of time I had!**

**So, both Snitch and Petal are kinda messed up inside. ****Snitch has an obsession with keeping his enemies in check. He does not like to be crossed or undermined.**

**Anyway, that's all for now. I'll see you soon...hopefully. Remember to review and I'll give you a super awesome mind-reading Whitewing plushie. You know you want one! **

**So,**

**Review. **

**~Queen Of The Pens**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

_Leopardpaw_

The golden tabby tom breathed a sigh of relief when the crowd of cats parted. Whitewing's trick had truly worked, and although the warrior had seemed a rather insignificant addition to the patrol, he was now glad of her presence. Without her, they would have been well and truly on their way to walled prison, probably with several guards watching them, due to Petal's earlier escape. He glanced back at the white she-cat, opening his mouth to thank Whitewing, when he realised that she clearly wasn't quite satisfied with something.

"We need an escort," she said pointedly.

"What?" Snitch asked, rather violently.

"Well, if we are not given an escort of say, you, and those two grey toms," Whitewing jerked her head towards Stoner and O'Rourke. "We might be attacked. And that might mean my mouth being opened."

"Very well," the pale tom growled. "I will personally escort you to ensure your safety. Stoner and O'Rourke will also come...and how about Wiley?"

Beside Leopardpaw, Petal stiffened and he glanced at her questioningly. She stared at him, almost pleadingly, and then glared for some reason or another - but there was nothing unusual about that - and brushed past him, moving to his other side and shrinking towards him. Every now and then, she'd surreptitiously peep over his shoulder at someone, and then ducked down quickly when she noticed Wiley shouldering his way through the crowd.

"Whatever you do, don't let him see me," she hissed.

"Why? You're going to kill me anyway, so what's the point of helping you?" he teased.

She glared at him reproachfully.

"I might reconsider," she meowed carefully, tossing her head. "Just do it, okay?"

He frowned at the grey-and-black tom that was talking quietly, hurriedly, with Snitch, gesturing and tilting his head to one side constantly. The pale brown tom was nodding slowly, and Wiley let out a triumphant grin before trotting back to the crowd and returning with a bright-furred ginger she-cat, who looked rather displeased to be coming with the grey-and-black tom.

"And her!" Petal said, a touch desperately.

Leopardpaw let out a sigh and rounded on her, causing to press herself flat to the ground so the two cats couldn't see her. He rolled his eyes at her action and gave another sigh, this time choked and interlaced with laughter.

"Tell me, then, what in StarClan's name is wrong with them?"

She glared at him reproachfully, not wanting to answer, but quickly replied when he shifted to one side threateningly, edging out of the way so that if he'd moved a mouse-length more, she'd have been in clear sight of the training pair.

"He called me pretty," she spat. "There? You happy?"

"So did I," the ThunderClan apprentice pointed out.

She flushed beneath her fur, trying to force a glare at him to hide her embarrassment. When that didn't work, and he raised his eyebrows in reply, before bursting out laughing, she turned her head away from him and growled throatily.

"She's a mouse-brain, a coward, an incompetent little wimp, and can't even put up a good fight, that's what's wrong with her," she snarled. "I had her pinned in a heartbeat, and she didn't even try and resist. That's why she's so...unbearable."

Leopardpaw let out a low, shaking whistle, still slightly amused from Petal's earlier reaction.

"Wow, she _must _be bad," he commented, and jumped out of the way just after Petal's unsheathed claws scored down his flank. "Hey! What was that for?"

"You know _what_," Petal grumbled bad-temperedly.

He sighed, but all the same moved to block her from Ginnie and Wiley's line of sight; he thought it was fairly pointless, considering that they already knew Petal was amongst the patrol and they'd soon manage to figure out that she was hiding behind him. And he couldn't _really _see why she disliked Wiley; he himself would rather like being called handsome, but, he reminded himself, he and Petal were incredibly different cats.

He turned as he heard a sharp intake of breath from Brackenfur, whose eyes were travelling fast over the landscape of West Broadhinny. Lumps of ash and grit had made their way between the uneven pebbles in the street, keeping a light dusting of grey ash over the sharp cobblestones. Squat twoleg-buildings, lumpy and shapeless, sat, derelict and long-forgotten, on the side of the streets, somehow creating a long and perpetual shadow and keeping the cobblestones bitterly cold. Lifeless grey scraps of plants, life long deserting their twisted, burnt leaves, peaked out from between the cobblestones, many crushed from seasons of being stepped upon repeatedly, and the gusty, buffeting wind sweeping it flat against the sharp stones. The sides of buildings were charred, decrepit and slumped inward from the roaring force of the fire that had once raged through the now cold, dark streets of West Broadhinny.

The golden apprentice realised, with a start, that Brackenfur alone amongst their patrol would remember the fire in the Old Forest, something which he'd heard discussed amongst some of the senior warriors. The ginger tom must be remembering the time when he had to flee the camp in the blind, confusing haze of the fire, the smoke thick and choking.

Leopardpaw wondered what it would be like, to have seen so much; would he have other fears? Would he learn from the fire, or would it make him scared? Would the countless battles which Brackenfur had seen and fought in make him a better cat, or a worse cat? Would all that the senior warrior had done wrong make him feel guilty, or would he have pushed it behind him? Could he remember everything that ever happened to him? Was his experience for the better, or for the worse.

"Snitch," a deep, rumbling growl made everyone halt.

The ThunderClan apprentice glanced around and noticed that Stoner, O'Rourke, Ginnie, and Wiley, had all lowered their eyes and had their heads almost touching their paws. Then, emerging out of the shadows, a solid-looking black cat appeared, his green eyes narrowed - except, he wasn't exactly black. Livid pink scars laced that seemingly smooth black pelt, and three scars had been solidified in time on either cheek; his ears were nothing but shreds, and a large scar, the largest and ugliest of all, was positioned on his right flank, covered only by a smattering of dark fur. Compared to Snitch, who looked completely ordinary save the half pushed down eye, he looked battle-hardened and formidable. Also noticeable upon this cat was a pinkness over the throat, probably aiding the strange, almost lisping way that the cat spoke.

"Who are these cats?" the cat half-rasped, half-hissed.

"They are Petal's entourage," Snitch replied, trying very hard to keep the fear out of his voice.

"And why are you letting them go?"

"They know, Krypt!" the pale brown tom replied desperately. "They know _everything _about me. Well, not all of them; just that white she-cat."

The cat, Krypt, frowned and examined Whitewing carefully, occasionally flinching as he moved, the tension from the scars obvious. In reply, the white ThunderClan cat tilted her head, her eyes flickering over his scars.

"Krypt...you are the Betrayer, no?" she asked.

The Betrayer jumped, his green eyes flashing with confusion, and then he turned to Snitch.

"She can go. But the others, they must be locked up; Petal made our training system look bad. It seems that we can only rely on senior fighters and scouts to fight off our enemies. Junior fighters and training pairs are supposed to be able to do that," he lisped, his voice catching on every word he spoke.

"My mouth remains open," Whitewing spoke up.

"What do you mean?" the Betrayer growled.

"If you let me go, my mouth remains open," she replied, "I am no deserter, nor do I betray. My friends will come with me, and _you _shall see to that."

"Will I?" he snarled.

"You will," Whitewing answered. "You know that you must, Krypt. Petal has done nothing to harm you. I know you have pride, both of you do; but pride is something that can be mended. If you let us go now, you will not regret it. Ever. Some things were supposed to happen, and, I have taken counsel from the stars - _this_ is meant to happen."

The Betrayer eyed her carefully, his green eyes glowing resentfully. Then, he moved forwards, padding towards Whitewing, causing all the Broadhinny cats, save Snitch, to recoil and take a step back, still keeping their heads lowered respectfully. He peered into her eyes, a clear, calm, calculating green - he was trying to see whether she would break under his presence, and although the sight of him made many of his cats cower in fear, she stared back, right into his eyes and didn't flinch once, despite his foul breath that buffeted her whiskers.

Finally, he stepped back.

"I will lead you personally through Broadhinny," he rasped. "I do not wish to see any of my cats killed at your paws, nor should they be harmed. We are fighters, too, and we know how to use are claws. Though you may be good with words, she-cat, it may not be your saving grace here."

"And I'd reply that though you think you scare cats, the only reason why they look away and flinch at your every word is because they are trained to do so," she said evenly.

"You're a fool," Krypt growled. "You have no idea what I'm capable of."

"I do, though," Whitewing meowed softly. "You are the cat who is so rarely seen that there are some questions as to whether you exist - you are the cat that, when he does appear, when he does speak, sends your cats running in every direction. But if they truly looked at you, looked you in the eyes, they wouldn't see the proud, strong, fearsome leader, but a cat, broken by what he has seen and what he has done. You don't know what you're supposed to be doing, though, do you?"

"Oh, and what do you do, she-cat?" the black tom snarled. "Do you make sure the sun rises every morning? Because judging by what you've said, clearly you do!"

"I -"

"Whitewing, that is enough," Bramblestar growled throatily and glaring at both cats authoritatively. "We have better things to do than argue like kits. Now," he fixed his eyes on the Betrayer, "are you going to show us the way out of here?"

* * *

The trip through West Broadhinny revealed that the inner streets were the most damaged by the fire, and one had to be careful where they placed their paws, because of the shards of glass that poked out from between the cobblestones and that had found their way onto the street in general. It also became apparent that Krypt very much disliked having Bramblestar in the position of authority. He didn't like being ordered around, but whenever the ThunderClan leader glared at him, he would do what he was told to with only a little grumble or mutter here and there.

There were surprisingly few cats around; only once or twice did Leopardpaw here the clatter of something as a frightened cat raced away quickly, its shadow and heavy-footed paws quickly betraying it. Petal told him that there were many more cats than he could imagine, and then suddenly became subdued and stopped.

"Wait," she meowed.

No-one challenged her. Every cat present stopped and looked at her, as Ginnie, Wiley, Stoner and O'Rourke had been dismissed a while ago. Even Snitch didn't give her his customary glare, and looked at her questioningly.

"Where's Thunder?" she asked.

Krypt and Snitch shared a glance, which involved much shrugging, nodding, and shaking of heads. Then, they both looked back at Petal.

"If you mean Storm, he's still behind those bars," Snitch offered.

"That's not Storm!" Petal spat. "That's my brother. That's Thunder; he may be the son of Storm, but he isn't Storm! But..." she trailed off, shrinking back into herself, "...just make sure he's okay."

She was greeted by silence. Snitch nodded, averting his eyes and staring at a squat, misshapen building, whilst Bramblestar shouldered his way to the front and rounded on Petal.

"If your brother's here, Petal, then we need to bring him with us," Bramblestar said seriously.

"It's not...safe," the silver she-cat seemed to be struggling with her words. "When we come back, we can get him. Not now. He doesn't - he just can't, Bramblestar. Just not now."

The brown tabby tom nodded slowly, but Leopardpaw noticed that the leader looked as if he didn't believe what Petal was saying, albeit a little worried. Petal's attitude had changed completely as she'd walked deeper into Broadhinny; she no longer had a barbed comment ready, nor was she quick to put down or dismiss ideas that were suggested by anyone else. It seemed there was something troubling her, something which she wasn't willing to share with anyone.

Resignedly, they continued walking, Krypt shooting distrustful glances at every single member of the patrol. Petal replied with a rather dispirited glare, and then looked at her paws again, her head hanging low as she continued heavily placing her paws one in front of the other.

"What's wrong?" Leopardpaw whispered, thinking that it wouldn't be fitting to talk loudly in such a broken down old place.

"Nothing!" Petal's head shot up with astounding energy. "I'm fine. _Really_," she insisted, when he raised his eyebrows. "I just don't like it here. It's awful. It reminds me of the mountain; bleak and depressing."

Leopardpaw opened his mouth to reply when Krypt growled in his rasping voice,

"We're here. This is the end of the West Side; from here on, you're in the hands of Sophia, and from what I've heard, she treats her prisoners lightly. No prisons or anything that we have here in the West Side. Apparently the East Side is a safe haven," he shrugged, "we'll see which one you prefer. Mind you, I'd watch out for Sophia's little helpers, Jade and Musket."

Whitewing dipped her head to Krypt as she stepped over the border between the East and West Side. The change was startling - where the cobbles and paving stones had been charred and broken, a smooth layer of tarmac, untouched by the fire, was surrounded by neatly-shorn green grass and clipped flowerbeds and hedges. Large twoleg nests with illustrious gardens sat on either side of the road, and monsters slept near the twoleg nests, their blaring eyes derelict of light for the time being.

The ThunderClan cats relished the change; no longer did the shadows stretch across the street, and now they were broken by the warm late newleaf sun. The breeze, which had been foul tasting and smelling and bone-chilling in West Broadhinny, was gentle and light.

"You're going to the mountains?" Krypt asked. "Well, I'd savour this whilst you can. Even in late spring, there are violent storms there."

"Spring?" Leopardpaw inquired.

"Whatever you call it," Snitch shrugged. "Newleaf. I've heard it called Season of the Flowers before, by those idiots in the East Side."

"Oh," the apprentice said, not knowing what else to say.

With that, the ThunderClan patrol turned and began to pad through the East Side, leaving Krypt and Snitch standing on the border, looking longingly across at the vibrant colours and neat order of the opposing side. Leopardpaw glanced back once or twice, and was surprised to see that they were still standing there, enjoying the fluttering breeze that would soon turn into a cold, hard wind as it approached the derelict centre of the ash-strewn West Broadhinny.

"Do you think they want to live in the East Side?" he asked in a low voice to Petal.

The silver she-cat turned to look at him incredulously, her eyes a light, airy blue. Her spirits seemed to have lifted considerably ever since the East Side had come into view, and now her steps were even and precise, no longer dragged down by some invisible weight.

"Leopardpaw," she meowed. "Of all the stupid things you've ever said, that is the stupidest of them all. Of _course _they want to live in the East Side. Would you want to live in that place? I'd prefer to live in the mountains for my entire life, rather than live in that dump," she flicked her tail towards the West Side. "You're such a mouse-brain."

"Sure, you can talk," he rolled his eyes. "So, did I serve your purpose as a shield?"

Petal glowered at him, and was suddenly very, very tempted to stomp on his paw. Fighting the temptation, she satisfied herself with a hiss and padded on, her paws instinctively curling around the edges of the paving stones that lined the side path. Up ahead, Whitewing, Brackenfur and Bramblestar were murmuring amongst each other, but every now and then Whitewing would laugh, and the others would follow her suit. They'd been talking for a while now, chatting in low voices, and it made Petal remember the siblings she'd left on the mountains, with nothing to eat, nowhere to go and no-one to turn to. They must all be so lost.

"Uh, Petal?"

She jerked her head around, and noticed that Leopardpaw was pointing his tail in the direction of a small, white, black and dark grey she-cat, who was trotting along the fence line just behind them. Looking at her, she didn't seem to be a kittypet - too much of the she-cat's ribs showed in her skin, and the precise yet small muscle tone was too much for a kittypet. Her fur hadn't been groomed carefully, as most kittypets spent a while doing, and she had the more wild, broad-headed, broad-shouldered look to her, that of the Clan cats. Large green eyes gleamed from her grey-and-white face, and her flattened out white paws moved quickly over the jagged fence. Then, the she-cat broke into a run, her paws seemingly flying over the fences and walls until she was a little way ahead of them; and then, she stopped and leapt off the fence, directly in front of them.

The bushes behind her rustled, and a white she-cat with bright green eyes and a dappled dark and light brown tom with amber eyes came out, squeezing their way to stand beside the small she-cat. Though the first she-cat didn't look that intimidating in herself, there was something gleaming deep in her eyes, in a way much like Bramblestar's that told of authority, that she was no coward.

The first three cats came to a halt, but Petal and Leopardpaw kept ambling along; the silver she-cat's green eyes were carefully examining the three newcomers, judging them, calculating their first moves. His only thoughts were as to whether he could try out the battle move he'd been practising when he'd found Petal. When they eventually reached the rest of the patrol, they too paused beside the other ThunderClan cats.

The grey, black and white she-cat then stepped forwards, a tiny smile gracing her lips. Almost at the exact same time, the two other cats behind her copied this smile, although their eyes showed no emotion, unlike the leading she-cat. All of a sudden, she sat down and drew her tongue over her paw and started washing her ears, mimicked seconds later by the cats standing beside her. When Brackenfur let out a slight cough, her eyes flew to him with astonishing speed, and her action once again became the action of the two other cats.

"I do not believe we have exchanged greetings," she mewed, looking innocently at Brackenfur with wide green eyes.

"I don't believe we have," Bramblestar spoke, causing her to jerk her head towards him; again, her action was mirrored by the two cats whose every move she seemed to be in absolute control of. "I am Bramblestar, leader of ThunderClan."

The she-cat padded up to him, her cats whom only seemed to serve a mimicking purpose trotting after her, their faces and bodies devoid of emotion. She stood on her heels, leaning up and shoving her muzzle in Bramblestar's face, which was no mean feat, seeing as he was quite a bit bigger than her; then, she began circling around him, never breaking eye contact.

A similar thing was happening to Petal and Leopardpaw, except they had the she-cat's two 'minions' as it were, circling around them. He and Petal exchanged one glance, and then raised their outer front paw and stepped upon one of the paws of the copier circling them. Suddenly, they let out a squeak and tumbled back, still in synchronisation, and then bared their fangs at the two apprentice-age cats, advancing slowly. The other she-cat's head shot round, and she glared warningly at the two cats.

"Jade, Musket. Don't you dare."

_Musket? Jade? _Leopardpaw thought, _these must be who Krypt was talking about. So that means...that that she-cat is Sophia! _He looked suspiciously at Sophia, who blinked back at him with that same innocent look that she'd used when she first noticed Bramblestar. There was something strange about her; but not just about her. It was Jade and Musket that scared him the most.

"Sophia," the golden tom meowed. "I'm Leopardpaw."

"I'm sorry? Have we met?" the shadowy she-cat asked, curious, tilting her head. "I don't believe I have."

"No, we've come from the We-" he broke off when Petal squashed his paw under her own, causing him to wince.

"We've come from the west side of the lake," the silver she-cat covered up his blunder quickly, adding a smile laced with venom.

"So my reputation has spread far? Do you wish to join our noble cause?" Sophia pressed.

"Certainly," Petal dipped her head. "I mean, your reputation. We have heard of you from miles away. We are headed for somewhere else, but we heard that you were friendly and if we were in need we could turn to you."

"So you want my help," the leader of the East Side concluded.

"Yes," the silver she-cat nodded.

Sophia closed her eyes, turning her head to one side. Jade and Musket did the same dutifully, although their eyes were open and their stared with hostility at the ThunderClan cats. It made Leopardpaw remember Krypt's words of warning - _mind you, I'd watch out for Sophia's little helpers, Jade and Musket. _There was definitely something wrong with them; no cat wanted to live their life in the shadow of another. Didn't they have ambition? Or had that all been set aside for their devout loyalty towards their leader, who was half each cat's size? When Sophia had told them to stop, they'd stopped, their faces becoming blank once more. Something had happened them, something he'd never want for any cat, no matter if they were his enemy or not.

"All help comes at a price, though," Sophia mused, opening her eyes and looking back at the ThunderClan patrol, settling them on Petal, with her entourage following her. "Give us information, and we'll guide you through the streets."

"Information?" Petal asked tetchily, a hint of a snarl creeping into her voice.

"About the West Side," the East Broadhinny cat meowed, leaning close towards them, and not surprised as Brackenfur and Bramblestar exchanged astounded glances.

"We haven't been in the West Side," Whitewing lied easily, trying to save their pelts.

"Haven't you? Oh, then, did you cross the dump to get here?" Sophia asked sweetly.

"The dump?" the white she-cat stared at her blankly.

"I don't know what you'd call it," Sophia shrugged. "Did you see the trucks? Aren't they enormous?"

"Trucks?" again, the ThunderClan she-cat had no idea what the other she-cat was talking about.

"Forgive me for being so rude, but seeing as you are as clueless as you are, I can tell that you're lying to me," the smaller she-cat meowed with narrowed eyes. "I know you didn't go across the dump. My cats would have reported it."

"What information do you want?" Petal spat, ruining Whitewing's plan of sidestepping Sophia's questions completely.

"Thanks," Leopardpaw muttered.

"Any time."

"Who is the leader of the scouts?" Sophia mewed softly, almost lazily.

"Amber," Petal replied promptly.

"And of the senior fighters?" the small she-cat asked lightly.

To this, she got a shrug, which caused her to narrow her eyes and stare at Petal distrustfully.

"Well then, who is the leader, and who is the second-in-command?" Sophia said patiently.

"Krypt and Snitch," the tabby snapped, feeling rather uncomfortable under the queer green gaze of the East Side leader.

"Oh," the leader said, crestfallen.

Her shoulders slumped and she sat down slowly, curling her black-and-grey tail around her paws. Her ears flattened against her head and she sighed, staring at her paws. Jade and Musket performed a similar act behind her, although their emotion was a little less intense, if not non-existent. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, she rose to her paws again, surprising the mimicking cats and causing them to remain slumped over until Musket glanced and hurriedly stood up.

"You've helped me," Sophia said, "and all I can do is repay my debt, no? I grant you safe passage through the streets, and I personally shall see that you are safe. However, I warn you that once you have broken my trust in you, it is hard to piece it back together. If you turn back and blab to those in the West Side, you have made yourself an enemy you never wanted to make."

"Understood," Bramblestar said firmly, with a direct nod of his head.

Smiling slightly, the black, grey-and-white she-cat began to walk forwards just a little ahead of the rest of them. She then veered off to the side, keeping to the shadows, and began to move forward stealthily with one side pressed against the fence. Immediately, as Leopardpaw copied her, the foul stench of Twolegs hitting his nose, accompanied by another, more familiar scent - dog. He remembered it from the day he'd scented one in the abandoned Twoleg nest in ThunderClan territory, when he'd gone to collect some moss that grew bountifully on the sides of the nest. Luckily, that dog had already passed through, but this one was very, very close.

Sophia glanced back, meeting the apprentice's gaze and seeing the scared look in his eyes.

"It's okay," she whispered. "That dog's tiny. Besides, it can't get out of the Twoleg nest when it wants to; you'll be fine."

"Sure," he offered doubtfully. "So, you used to live in West Broadhinny?"

Silence greeted his words, and she turned her head back again, padding forwards before deciding to answer his question.

"'Live' is a very inaccurate term, young Leopardpaw," Sophia answered, still not looking at him. "We she-cats didn't 'live'. As far as any of the toms were concerned, we didn't even exist...we were just there for convenience. We were _owned _by toms. We didn't have a life there; here, as you can imagine, we don't allow any of the cats who were senior in the hierarchy before the Betrayal. Only the junior cats, who fought on our side, are allowed to fight beside us. Storm lost a lot of loyalty after many of his promises of 'wild, free life' were broken; when he thought he had so much support, he had so little. That's why he started the fire - he thought it'd even the odds out a little, but all it did was destroy...and kill. He was evicted out with his loyal fighters, and the cat that had started the uprising, he became leader. No-one knew of his identity - he had a few trusted off-siders, a she-cat and a tom, who persuaded others to join their cause. I was involved, of course, and I knew that this was the perfect chance to escape; so I spread my word, too, but it only got to a few cats before the Betrayal started. The fire was an unexpected complication, meaning that some of our cats were killed in it and we had only a handful left. Still, we ran, leaving the fire and West Broadhinny behind us, as most of us were based in the West Side, and took control of the East Side. I thought that I knew who the Betrayer was, Leopardpaw, until today - when my suspicions were confirmed. Rumour told of a massive, fire-scarred cat with piercing green eyes. I guessed, I thought I knew the truth, but I'd always turn away from that truth because I could not accept who I was fighting against," she smiled bitterly. "My brother."

"He's your brother?" Leopardpaw asked, astounded. "You don't look anything alike!"

"We did, once," Sophia insisted. "Before the fire. He had grey, and he had a bit of white, too; now that's probably all covered up with scars. If you look at my eyes, you'll see the resemblance between us. But now is not the time; we must hurry, for though you may not have realised, dusk is approaching, and you do not want to be the unfortunate one to be wondering these streets at dusk. They say there is pure evil that is brought in the night-time fog."

"Surely that's just a story to scare kits," he scoffed.

"Maybe it is, young Leopardpaw," she turned her head and glowered at him. "But those in the East Side who remain out under the cover of night never return. Those that do - they are never the same again. They are scared, so scared, when they arrive back, but then slowly, all of that disappears. Until there is _nothing _left, but loyalty to a single cat."

"Is that what happened to Jade and Musket?" he whispered apprehensively.

"They were the only ones to ever return," she meowed shortly. "They have an identical scar on the pad of their right front paw; we aren't sure what its from, but we've always had our suspicions. And then there are rumours. But if you want to end up like them, I suggest that you linger out here. If you don't, follow me. And hurry."

Still pressed up against the fence, the golden tom glanced back at Petal, who was creeping along with such great ease, carefully yet quickly placing one paw in front of another. She glanced up at him, rolled her eyes and padded on, every now and then shooting suspicious glances at Jade and Musket, who were bouncing along beside them, not keeping under the protective shadow of the fence. She suddenly flinched back as a monster past, leaving an acrid, foul stench in the air; inwardly, Leopardpaw recoiled to, but his walk was unbroken as he stared at the place the monster had been only seconds beforehand. He'd only seen a few in his life, but that was enough to know that he didn't want to see any more.

* * *

The sky was a hazy grey when Sophia finally stopped, turning to the other cats. Before them was a sparsely-grassed field, and then a scattering of brown rocks, half-dead tussock grass growing between the cracks. Above that, a mountain of impossible heights rose up before them, the ice upon it glittering a silvery-white in the uncertain light. A tinge of sunset sat upon its peaks, tinting them pink from the streaky sky behind them. Jade and Musket scampered over to stand beside Sophia, onto the Thunderpath that slowly dwindled away into nothingness, losing itself as the rocks begun.

"This is the end of the East Side," Sophia blinked at them. "I cannot guide you any further. I must return to my cats, and you must do what you set out to do; I shall welcome you back any time when you are need, if you shall do so to me."

"Thank you, Sophia," Bramblestar meowed. "May StarClan guide your path."

"I do not know what StarClan is, Bramblestar," she replied, with a hint of a smile. "But I say the same to you."

Then, she disappeared into the shadows, followed by Jade and Musket. One heartbeat, she was there - the next, she was gone. Leopardpaw and Petal exchanged an amazed glance, and then the apprentice jumped as a chill wind blew through, ruffling his fur. Only Petal relaxed into it, closing her eyes and breathing in the fresh mountain air. She opened them again, and they were a bright, intense blue; then, with a sigh, she turned around and faced the other cats, looking directly at Bramblestar as she said,

"Come on. This is the mountain I came down, so this is the mountain where she fell."

She then began to pad across the scattered, browned grass and leapt onto the pointed rocks, waiting for the others to catch up. Leopardpaw followed her hurriedly, racing across the grass and jumping onto a rock next to hers only to fall back, wincing in pain. He stared at her incredulously.

"How do you manage to stand on that?" he asked, showing her his pad, which had a clean red cut across it.

In turn, she showed her own pad; it was thick and tough, used to the rocky, undulating landscape of the mountains, and then raised her eyebrows, jerking her head towards the rock next to her.

"Avoid the point," she meowed dryly. "That way, it might not hurt as much. You'll get used to it after a while."

"I doubt I will," he grumbled, pushing himself up and carefully placing his paws on the jagged rock, wincing when he lightly placed his first paw on it.

Glancing over, he noticed that the other ThunderClan cats were having a similar problem, although they seemed as if they didn't care, despite their winces and exclamations of pain. Petal followed his gaze, and then, all of a sudden, grabbed his scruff in her teeth and pulled him up, grunting with the effort.

"Why are you so heavy?" she growled, freeing her teeth and setting her paw on the next rock.

"I don't know. Why are you so angry all the time?"

She glared at him threateningly, baring her teeth with a snarl.

"You know, when we get there, don't be surprised if I _accidentally _pushed you into the abyss."

* * *

**Author's Note: So I updated again. I know it took a while, but I gave you a chapter with over six thousand words, not including the author's note. So, not much to say, is there? Review, because I only got a few reviews last chapter, and you'll get a Sophia plushie with an attached Jade and Musket. Oh, except...**

**I'm thinking of writing a side-story for The Abyss. Instead of being about the Clans, it'll be about the Guardians of the Night, pre and post Betrayal. It's just a maybe thing, so don't be surprised if I don't write it, and I'm still a bit hazy on how I'm going to do it. It'll probably be focusing on a cat (surprise, surprise) whom I was thinking of calling Pandora. I've always wanted to call a cat Pandora. Anyway, I was thinking about _Pandora's Box_, because I thought it sounded good, but then I realised there was already a myth/legend known as _Pandora's Box_; well, it was an artefact in Greek mythology. **

**So, any name suggestions? Title suggestions? I'm really open to anything. Even characters; but there will, of course, be cats like Blaze, Star, Marlo, Snitch, Krypt/The Betrayer, Willow, Amber, Sophia, Storm and Thorn (she was only briefly mentioned in this story, as the head of the senior fighters, but will have a more main part), and other such cats. Oh, yes, and Falcer! Of course Falcer. That's such a weird name, isn't it? _Falcer_. I don't know how I came up with it *shrug*. Okay, enough blabbing, and bye!**

**Queen Of The Pens**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

_Ice_

The harsh morning light reflected coldly upon the glistening surface of the snow, looking almost angry. The sky was still red, the sunrise still hanging in the air, and a bird of prey flew back and forth upon the horizon, gliding left, then right, then east, then west, a dark shadow that broke the sky in two. From the jagged outcrop, a precarious, thin, jagged edge which jutted out into the sunrise, she could see everything as far as the crow flies. The pitted, grey grass that dotted the field next to the large assortment of rocks which marked the edge of the mountain; the smoke rising from twoleg nests, shadowy, distant shapes; and then, the clumps of trees, the size of a beetle from her high vantage point. That, she knew, was the forest.

But it all looked so different from when she usually came up here; the field looked full of life, though hopelessly weak; the twoleg nests looked merry, if they could; and the forest always looked so beautiful, so happy, so healthy, so inviting, when today it just looked like ordinary clumps of trees arranged to make a forest. It wasn't the same - and she knew why.

She turned and stalked back, her tail dragging frustratedly in the snow. She stopped by a small river, its surface frozen over to make way for a glistening cover of ice, clearly beaming her reflection back at her.

She'd changed so much since she was a kit; her haphazard grey-and-white fur was arranged in jagged clumps, unlike her former kit-soft, tufty fur. Her formerly short legs had lengthened out, and her blue eyes, which had once been a deep blue, were now an icy blue-white, cold and hardened. She was no longer the kit she had been. And the kit she had been never would have done this.

The kit she had been was so bound by such impossible loyalty, connected by invisible bonds to her family. She would never question whether they would be safe, or happy, just follow what they had to offer. She would help them in whatever way possible, thinking out plans to help them in her travel. And now, at nine moons, she was no better than a traitor.

She knew they'd be hurt. She knew they'd think she'd been taken by a fox. She knew they'd keep on waiting no matter what. And she knew they'd never trust her again, if they lived.

That was the thing: the question, the possibility. _If they lived_. Once, she would have stuck by them.

_Now, _she reminded herself angrily, _is not the once I keep remembering. _Standing up and turning away from the jagged-furred cat reflected in the smooth surface, she fought back tears. Tears that she couldn't help coming when they were set loose; and that was exactly what happened. They fell freely, making tracks down her frozen face, burning the flesh beneath her fur. She blinked them away and flattened her ears against her head; _this is what Silver would do. If there was no other option, she'd run, she'd hide. _

_...maybe she wouldn't. But I'm not Silver, and I never was. And I'm going to do what's best for me. I can't pretend any more. I'm not going to. It'll be my fault if they die, but as this point, I'm too desperate to care; these two moons have been agony, when I could have run free and let myself live. I wouldn't have been stuck down there if it hadn't been for the guilt that I'd have. But guilt is nothing compared to living at the bottom of an abyss for the rest of your life, when you can go free. Maybe I'd have found the Clans by now, and I'd just be Ice. Ice the loner. Ice the rogue. A no-one. I wouldn't be the daughter of Silver. I would be the daughter of some long-dead rogue who I can't remember. I'd be an apprentice now. I might get my warrior name. Icesong. Icewhisker. Icenose. Icetail. Iceheart._

At the thought of the last name, she flinched, the tears flowing again. _How fitting, _she thought, _Ice_heart_. The one whose heart was as cold as ice. I think that would be punishment enough for what I'm about to do._

She stopped there, in the snow, and cleaned the tears away roughly with a frozen white paw. There was nothing left for her to do. She had to do it. She had to find the courage and leave.

_Courage? _she thought to herself derisively. _There is no courage in doing what I'm about to do. It's selfishness. I'm being selfish. I don't even know if I should ever call myself 'courageous' any more. Only a coward flees from fate._

But maybe she was a coward. And maybe, just maybe, she didn't care.

_StarClan will be better than that abyss. They should thank me. _

Once again she stood, and turned around, bounding back to the edge of the abyss that had been her home for two moons, and looked down into its shadowed depths. She swallowed the lump in her throat, glancing in the direction of the Silent Caves. She kicked some snow into the abyss with a sigh, memories filling her head. She never thought she'd be sad to leave that place.

"I'm sorry," she murmured. "I truly am. When the time comes, I ask you to forgive me. You are all better cats than I ever was, and ever shall be. Forgive me."

Then, she turned on her heel determinedly and stalked away, ignoring the omens of bad fortune - the red dawn, the falcon circling the horizon, the auspicious way the smoke wafted in the wind, and promised herself something. _That is the last time I will ever see that._

* * *

Now she knew why she'd never tried this before.

It was because she had the worst sense of direction - and she was completely, utterly, hopelessly lost. Every pawstep she took, the landscape looked the same; an expanse of snow drifts and fluffy white snow in every direction. The almost comforting presence of the abyss was long gone, that reassuring edge that she had somehow grown to hate, yet at the same time, she still loved it. It was reassuring. She knew where she was.

It was then that she first noticed it - the scent carried on the wind. It was fresh, and of cats, but the scent was strange, unfamiliar, and it instinctively made her claws unsheathe and her fur bristle. There was a freshness too it, but also the bitter stench of smoke. _Kittypets? _she wondered with a frown. _But what would they be doing up here? They're too busy stuffing themselves with food and grooming their pelts._

She'd never actually met a kittypet, but she knew enough about them to know that you had to treat them with disdain. They spent their whole lives in the sheltered Twoleg nests they called home.

Then, she heard the voices; the sound of whispering, and soft laughter, and amiable chatter. She could feel the affection in their voices as they talked to each other.

She ducked down behind a snowdrift as the cats neared, freezing in the spot. Slowly, she peeked around the edge of a snowdrift, and that was when she saw them first.

There were five of them - a dark brown tom, a golden tom, a white she-cat, a ginger tom and a silver tabby she-cat. _Just let them go past, _she decided. They all looked well-fed and healthy, though the silver tabby walked with a slight limp.

It was then, however, that something the silver tabby was saying caught her attention.

"It was an abyss," she was telling them. "It was reasonably large. I saw three of them fall, but Thunder said..." she trailed off; obviously this was a painful subject for her.

She recognised her, this silver tabby - however much the cat had changed from this snappish, impulsive cat that she once was, Ice knew her. That was her sister. _That _was Petal. In that instance, she didn't know what to do - but Petal saved her. The silver tabby stopped, her eyes wide, and held up her tail. The golden tom halted instantaneously, but it took the others a while to notice that they had stopped.

"What is it?" the largest cat, a brown tabby tom, asked, leaning towards Petal in slight concern.

"I think I smell one of them," she replied, her voice barely above a whisper, and she turned around shakily, her eyes drifting over the bleak landscape.

They were still the same eyes, Ice was relieved to see; the eyes that changed colour depending on the light, and her mood, the ones that ranged from blue to green to silver and colours in between. Yet these eyes were full of less haughtiness, and some mixed emotion that looked strangely like horror - perhaps it was shock.

The silver cat smelled the snow beneath her paws, greeted by nothing but cold, fresh snow. She brushed aside the fresh snowflakes, in an attempt to find some kind of hidden sent, but to no avail. Ice knew that the snow would have covered up what scent there was.

"I know that scent. That's -" she stopped, her eyes widening as Ice gingerly stepped out from behind the snowdrift. "Ice," she breathed, standing stock still.

Petal looked so different now, more different than Ice would have thought she would; but age did change cats, for better or for worse. The silver tabby was no longer the small, fiery-tempered she-cat she had been. She was much bigger now, bigger than Ice herself, and her fur was longer and less fluffy than the grey-and-white cat remembered. She'd changed, just like Ice had. But she had changed for the better.

There was a pause, when they both stared at each other - they never thought they'd see each other again, except perhaps in StarClan. And now here they were, staring each other in the eyes. And they were both alive.

Petal broke the silence with a comment which proved she had not changed as much as her sister thought she had.

"About time," she growled. "Do you know how long I've been _looking _for you?"

"At a guess, two moons," Ice meowed softly; still, neither of them moved.

A movement caught Ice's eye and she looked back to see the golden tom padding over to Petal; he looked about their age, though he might have been younger. He was much more muscular than either of them, and he was about Petal's size - his eyes were warm, but they looked full of fight. He was not the kind of cat you could cross and get away with it.

Ice glanced at Petal's other companions; there were two, serious-looking toms, large and muscular. The brown tabby had amber eyes, as did the ginger-brown tom, and there was a visible scar on the latter tom's foreleg, which just added to the fierce look that he possessed. A white she-cat, who had a very motherly look to her hovered behind Petal and the golden tabby, and her green eyes glittered with curiosity.

"Who are they?" Ice asked, with more hostility than she intended.

Petal opened her mouth, probably to snap something in a bad-tempered way, but the golden tom get there before her.

"I'm Leopardpaw," he introduced himself. "This is Whitewing, Brackenfur, and Bramblestar?"

_Bramblestar...? Is that it? Is he our father? I'm pretty sure Silver said Bramble_claw_, though. Maybe he's just another cat, _Ice decided, latching her eyes on the brown tabby tom. _He does look like Eagle, though...and he has Blizzard's eyes._

"You have a lot to tell us," Petal stepped forwards, her eyes like chips of ice, and then turned on her heel, not looking back as she said, "and yes, Bramblestar is your father."

* * *

It was about sunhigh when they finally stopped, and Ice was exhausted, collapsing to the ground instantly. She wasn't used to long treks; when they'd been with Silver, they'd stop constantly, and in the abyss there had been limited space. Up on the surface, her only purpose was to hunt. There was no time for strolls; besides, even though it was late newleaf, the unwary could freeze in a matter of seconds when a snowstorm was approaching. No, it was best to stay in the abyss - at least, it had been.

She'd told them everything; well, almost everything. She excluded the part where she was going to leave them in the abyss, saying that she was going hunting instead, and just happened to stumble upon them. She knew that Petal didn't give cats second chances - she rarely even gave them a first chance - and did not want to shatter her sister's trust in her.

As she lay there in the snow, she noticed that the ThunderClan cats, including Petal, were still standing, and Bramblestar was organising cats to go on a hunting patrol. Petal nodded rather brusquely and ran off, in no particular direction, leaving Ice wondering, _she still has energy to run?_

Once everyone save Bramblestar had dispersed, the brown tabby tom padded over to her, sitting down and running a thoughtful eye over her.

"I thought you might be a bit tired of hunting," he meowed in his deep voice, blinking at her kindly. "I'm amazed that you managed to keep it up."

_Disloyalty. You ran away from them. You left them to die. Disloyalty._

"Yeah. So am I," she muttered. "Thank you, by the way," she added, in a clearer voice, "I don't think I could stand much longer."

"You must be tired," Bramblestar sighed. "You should sleep. We need your help later on - first of all, we need your help getting into the abyss."

A strained smile crossed her face, and she turned her ice blue eyes to focus on him; he noticed that the smile carried no humour, and her eyes glittered dully from tiredness, frustration and hunger.

"Good luck with that," she replied.

"What do you mean?" he questioned, puzzled.

She paused, letting out a slightly bemused sigh before pressing on, scuffing the snow beneath her paws, making a little indent in the snow.

"Silver's injured, Bramblestar," Ice explained. "She has a fever. She's close to death," she paused to let the words take affect, and she saw him half rise to his paws and then sit down again. "She needs herbs. She needs to be healed. And do you know why she needs to be healed? Because there are foxes living in the abyss, on the only pathway down. I can only get up because I'm so much lighter than everyone else; but I doubt that anyone in your patrol will be able to get up. Petal's grown a lot since I last saw her, and that apprentice, Leopardpaw, looks heavier than Petal. You need to go in their fighting. And the only way out is to fight them again, too."

"So what do you suggest we do?" Bramblestar asked anxiously.

"Find Snow," she said softly. "We have to find Snow."

"Find snow?" he echoed. "There's plenty of it here," he gestured with his tail to complete his point.

She blinked. _Has Petal not told him about Snow? About Shell? She was talking about Thunder, though; maybe he thinks Thunder's his actual son. It would be very like Petal to leave things out which she didn't want to talk about. She and Snow never really clicked. Petal and Shell were close, so maybe he knows about Shell, just not Snow. I wouldn't put it past Petal._

"Not that snow," she answered. "As in the cat, Snow; your adoptive daughter. Do you know about her?" to her surprise, he nodded, so she continued, "she's good with her herbs. She'll know what to do."

"What about Stoneteller?" Bramblestar suggested.

_How does he...? Oh, I forgot. He's visited the Tribe of Rushing Water before. Was that Silver who told us about that, or Brook? I forget; Brook was like our second mother, although much more patient than Silver. And she had a quieter personality._

"Tell me, do you think you can find the Tribe of Rushing Water's home?" she asked petulantly; being tired and hungry made her slightly annoyed. "We might even be on a different mountain, for all I know."

The ThunderClan leader had the audacity to look around, as if he expected the Tribe cats to appear out of the snow and guide them back to the Waterfall. Then he looked at Ice again, in a very earnest manner.

"No," he admitted.

"I think Snow is a safer choice," she said. "She must be around here somewhere, with Shell. If you know where Thunder is, then they must be together; Petal said he told her they were."

"Excuse me?" Bramblestar frowned.

"I said, Petal said he told her...she hasn't told you, has she?" Ice asked, rolling her eyes. "She does like to leave out little bits of information when she doesn't feel like telling anyone, but I don't think she wants you to know. And I respect that. So now -"

She broke off as she felt a weight on her shoulders, and her muzzle was shoved in the snow; beside her, out of the corner of one eye, she noticed Bramblestar struggling with a white cat, although he couldn't see, and the cat was applying a lot of force and pressure. _Whitewing? _Ice wondered briefly, before a golden paw flashed out and slammed the side of her head, knocking her into the beckoning dark of unconsciousness.

* * *

**Author's Note: Wow. That took me a _long _time to write; but I managed it, and you guys deserve it. Well, I guess a week isn't that long...but it did feel like ages.**

**This is Author's Note is going to be pretty short. I just want to let you know that the 99th reviewer gets the opportunity to create a cat for The Abyss, one of my stories, or this one's possible sequel, and the 100th ****gets a one-shot written by yours truly, about the subject of your choosing. Hopefully that's some stimulus to review. Hopefully XD**

Queen Of The Pens


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's Note: You might need this list of cats for this chapter, so you can refer to them throughout.**

**Former Guardians of The Night (Fighters)**

**Star ― golden-furred she-cat with ice blue eyes; at her paws, tailtip, ears and muzzle, her fur is a dusty grey-brown (Brother: Blaze, Sisters: Amber & Thorn, Cousin: Marlo)**

**Ivory ― small black she-cat with dark midnight blue eyes and a fluffy tail (Sister: Cadence & Clementine)**

**Cadence ― small grey she-cat with blue eyes and a fluffy tail (Sisters: Ivory & Clementine)**

**Clementine ― small grey patched she-cat with blue eyes and a fluffy tail (Sisters: Ivory & Cadence)**

**Honey ― white-and-brown she-cat with green eyes, former house cat (Sisters: Ember, Syren & Kira)**

**Ember ― large grey-and-white she-cat with green eyes, former house cat (Sisters: Honey, Syren & Kira)**

**Syren ― grey she-cat with green eyes, former house cat (Sisters: Ember, Honey & Kira)**

**Kira ― large brown, grey and white she-cat with green eyes, former house cat (Sisters: Honey, Ember & Syren)**

**Bearers**

**Sienna ― lean, blue-grey she-cat with sky blue eyes (Mate: Marlo, Kits: Rose & Emily)**

**Flora ― skinny pale brown she-cat with amber eyes (Mate: Blaze, Kits: Expecting)**

**Dove ― white she-cat with amber eyes (Mate: Thatcher, Kits: Expecting)**

* * *

**Chapter 24**

_Sienna & Petal_

Heart pounding, Sienna made her way out of the crevice, pushing herself up with her front paws.

Only sunrises ago, she'd given birth to her first litter of kits. And now, she was following six cats, including the one newcomer, as they wound deeper and deeper into the shallow howl of the biting wind. They were not of here, she noticed, save the silver tabby ― they all walked precariously on the mountain's face, never trying to move out of the wind.

She was still tired, her legs still trembling, from the kit-birth only sunrises ago. But Flora and Dove were worse off; their bellies were still heavy with kits, and Flora was due to kit in two sunrises at the very most; they were constantly almost falling over, only to be supported by Clementine and Syren, who rushed over to help them after their first tumble. Star led the group, keeping herself distinctly separated from them, and her tail was brushing the ground. Her icy blue eyes were narrowed, and she only looked back once to tell Dove and Flora to be careful and to not make so much sound.

So far, they had gone unnoticed ― and Star evidently wanted that to last. The cats they were following, though not of the mountains, seemed to be tireless, always placing one foot in front of the other, when most cats would collapse. The only weak one was the newcomer, the grey-and-white she-cat, who walked behind them hesitantly, her ribs sticking out from her pelt.

Finally, they stopped. The largest cat, the commander, it seemed, sent out cats to hunt, whilst he and the weak-looking she-cat stayed behind and began to talk to each other in what looked like a very serious conversation. Star turned to them, her blue eyes hungry.

"Okay," she beckoned everyone in closer. "Sienna, Dove; you're on those two," she flicked her tail towards the cats sitting down. "Every one else, come with me. We have cats to capture."

She smiled in an odd way, baring her fangs before bounding off silently, followed Flora and seven other fighters. Two of the house cat sisters looked scared out of their minds; but, knowing Star, they wouldn't be the ones to help capture the four other cats.

Sienna glanced at Dove, and the white she-cat nodded, crouching down so her heavy belly touched the floor. They began to creep forwards, as if hunting their prey, and held their breath, waiting for the cats to notice them. Then, they leapt as one, without looking at each other, and landed on the cat they were aiming for. There was a brief struggle, before Sienna swung her paw round and knocked the grey-and-white she-cat out. She looked round to see if Dove needed any help, but surprisingly, the heavily pregnant bearer had already knocked out the large tabby tom. Despite herself, Sienna was impressed.

"What do we do now?" Dove asked.

Sienna looked around, flattening her ears to her head.

"We wait," she said softly. "Until the others come back."

* * *

The greyish-blue she-cat watched as the first cat stirred groggily, blinking open her ice blue eyes, strangely like Star's ― although, Sienna had to admit, they held a lot more warmth and control. The she-cat let out a sigh that shook her body, and then glanced towards the guards; Kira, the shyest and flightiest of the house cat sisters, and Ivory, the small but formidable fighter ― and then there was Sienna, hovering on the edge of it all. Because they had told her, after Star had captured them again, to look out for a silver tabby.

And she had found one.

The first of the cats to wake up, after a great show of yawning, blinked her eyes again and sat up in alarm, starting to her paws and alerting Kira instantly; the brown, grey and white she-cat darted away to the side, and then returned to her post when Ivory rolled her eyes. Though fairly large and hefty, Kira had the softness of a house cat about her that would never wear off. Of course, Blaze and Star had only let her join because they needed as many paws at they could get. She was too shy in battle, always running away when the scattered remnants of the original Guardians got into one. If these cats wanted to escape, they could ― after all, the four house cat sisters didn't have much of a presence, and were always dozing off, and three of their numbers were bearers. For Snow and Shell, Star, Ivory, Cadence and Clementine would be a struggle; but maybe not for these cats.

The grey-and-white cat just stared at the flighty house cat, and then hurried over to the silver tabby, prodding her with one paw.

"Petal, get up," she murmured softly, casting a distrustful glare in Ivory's direction; she hadn't seen Sienna yet. "It's urgent."

The silver she-cat rolled over, stretching, her eyes still closed as she did so.

"Where's Leopardpaw?" Petal grumbled sleepily, "tell him I'm going to kill him, Ice. He was too rough when he leapt on me...I think he knocked me out."

"Open your eyes, mousebrain! Look where we are!" the one called Ice hissed.

The silver she-cat opened her eyes; a light, silvery-green, traced with darker rims of a forest green. Her eyes settled on Sienna, detecting her where Ice had not, and her eyes opened wider and she sprung instantly to her paws, knocking the golden tom beside her, who groaned and mumbled something, but did not wake. Instinctively, the silver she-cat crouched down, and Ivory turned around instantly, narrowing her dark blue eyes.

"Where do you think you're going, pretty face?" the black she-cat snarled. "Sienna and I've got you covered."

Kira blinked, not really minding that her name wasn't mentioned. To be honest, she wasn't a very intelligent cat, and had definitely suited life better as a house cat, away from the cold blizzard that blew on the mountain every day, in the same monotonous pattern. She'd only left because her sisters had wanted to join.

The silver tabby, on the other hand, had a very different reaction ― her claws unsheathed and curled into the rock, the fur on her spine rising. She cast Ivory a glare, whilst Ice watched on calmly, sitting by Petal's side.

"Watch who you call _pretty face_, fluff tail," she spat back. "And at best, the only thing you two could kill would be a mouse," she glared at Kira, who cowered back, and Ivory.

_Oh. _

She thought that Kira was Sienna.

That made sense.

Ivory stared evenly at Petal, anger sparking in her midnight blue gaze. She leaned to the side and whispered something to Kira, who looked happy to oblige, taking flight before Ivory had finished. The fighter rolled her eyes at Sienna, who shrugged in return.

Meanwhile, the two she-cats had woken up the cats in their two very different methods. The silver she-cat found it more..._amusing _to cuff her fellow captives with the side of her paw, whilst the grey-and-white she-cat spoke with coaxing words, drawing them out of their dreamless sleep. There was the instant reaction of, _where are we? _but once they had calmed down, the cavern fell silent again, their eyes flitting around the small outlet of the cave; one of the cut-off caverns which only had one exit.

The blue she-cat stepped out of the shadows, directing six pairs of cold eyes towards her. Ivory looked, too, only to turn back again when the _thud, thud _of pawsteps heading their way reached her ears and a cruel smile glinted on her face.

There they were - all the fighters, save Honey and Cadence, who were guarding the cave. At the front of the crowd, Star was standing, her ice blue eyes glimmering in the eerie light; hovering nervously beside her was Kira, who had her tail between her legs and her ears pressed flat against her head; behind Kira, Syren, Ember and Clementine stood, trying to look fearsome, but all the while sneaking glances at the six strangers. Sienna realised, with a chill, that it was seven on six - but Ember and Kira would run at the first sound, scrambling over their paws. Five on six. And five of those cats looked ready to tear them to shreds; the two large toms could easily pin four cats between them, as they towered over Star and the others. Sienna herself felt intimidated, standing half in the shadows, half out, as she tried to shrink back into the welcoming darkness. At least then, she couldn't be seen.

The silver tabby's eyes narrowed as she stared at Star. Then, her bottom lip curled and she meowed something that sounded strangely like,

"Amber."

The golden she-cat stiffened immediately, looking ready to claw the tabby's pelt. Instead, she held her ground calmly, her head raised high, her tail up, and her eyes glittering with the affect of command.

"What of her?" Star challenged, flicking her ears forwards restlessly.

Beside her, Kira glanced from Petal to Star, shrinking back as the silver tabby settled her seething gaze on the former house cat momentarily, watching Kira's reaction, and then moved on to meet Star's ice-cold gaze.

"You know her," Petal accused. "You look like that tom they captured in West Broadhinny; and he had the same eyes and pelt as Amber. You're related, aren't you?"

"So you've been to West Broadhinny, have you?" the golden she-cat's eyes glittered with interest, but her face was unreadable. "I have a proposal for you."

"I'm not interested," the silver tabby spat back promptly.

"Really, now?"

Star marched forwards, and Kira followed her, before noticing that the rest of the cats weren't following and dashing back to join the other cats. The leader of the she-cats stood in front of Petal, so that their noses were almost touching.

"I don't see why I'm talking to you," Star meowed. "There are other cats here to speak, older cats; but you look like you're more...willing to go along with this. If you give me the information I want, you can go free. I don't care where. Just go, and never bother us again."

"You know," Petal said with an exasperated sigh, accompanied by her signature head toss, "you're really starting to sound Sophia."

"So you're crossing the borders?" the elder she-cat leaned forwards even more, causing Petal to take a step back, affronted. "That's strange; very strange, don't you think, Clementine?"

The grey she-cat nodded her assent; it was clear that even if Star was wrong, she would have agreed with her. Star turned back again quickly, her tongue running over her fangs hungrily, as if waiting for the information.

"Sophia doesn't seem like the kind of cat to let refugees into the East Side," the she-cat mused. "Who are you, any way? You smell of Broadhinny; the smoke, the ash, that acrid car scent - but I don't remember you. In fact," her gaze travelled over the other cats. "I don't remember any of you. What were you, fighters? Bearers?" at this, her eyes landed on the strange white she-cat, who bristled angrily.

A brown tabby tom stepped forwards so that his shadow landed over Star, and even though the she-cat was the picture of arrogance, she trembled slightly and jerked back a noticeable distance.

"We're of ThunderClan," he meowed, calmly. "And we're going to show you how ThunderClan cats fight."

It all happened in a flash; one second, the brown tabby was looming over Star, and the next, he'd bowled her over and was pinning her to the floor. The other large tom sprung to his aid as Ivory leapt, meeting her halfway and crashing down upon her, until they vanished into the shadows, still a writhing mass of teeth and claws.

Suprisingly, Kira and Ember stood their ground, hissing bravely as the ginger tom passed; this didn't last long, however, when the golden tabby sprung at them and sent them running with a well-placed snarl; they ran away without looking back, and the young tom didn't even bother pursuing them. They weren't planning on coming back any time soon.

Their attacker ducked as Clementine soared over his head and landed in front of him, reeling off balance for a split-second before sitting firmly on her paws. But a split-second was all he needed, and he charged head on, knowing she wouldn't be able to escape the tirade that was coming.

The white she-cat pounced on Syren, and battled the former house cat's well-aimed swipe with a forepaw that flashed out of nowhere, slamming the grey cat's paw to the ground and causing her opponent to yelp in pain. With her free paw, the green-eyed cat sent her paw arcing into the side of Syren's head, sending the cat's knees buckling before the former house cat crashed to the ground, her paw still entangled with her enemy's. Syren let out a shuddering breath and closed her eyes as the white cat's claws made small red blots on Syren's grey pelt. Sienna's eyes widened; _did she just kill a cat? _

Then, Syren rose up again in a fury; but the stranger was prepared, as if she'd seen that trick before. She leapt off the grey cat as Syren rose, and then back on, causing the fighter's shoulders to be jarred from the impact, and sent her yowling in agony.

Then, something crashed into her from behind, and she swivelled on the impact just before she fell back onto the rocks, and saw the silver tabby. Sienna frowned; just a moment ago they had been light green, and now they were a glazed silver, anger beaming from within their depths. Then, she yowled in agony as claws scraped her underbelly and reared up, easily pushing the smaller cat off, and swung wildly with her forepaws. The other she-cat sidestepped and ducked under the tirade before launching herself at Sienna again.

Rolling back, guided by the adrenaline of the battle, Sienna flung out her hindpaws as Petal was about to land on her, sending her flying through the air with bone-shattering impact. She winced as the younger cat made contact with the ground, expecting to hear a sharp crack, but instead opened them again to see her opponent land neatly on all four paws and then take a flying leap towards the bearer.

It was then that Sienna learnt two things: one being that Petal did not give up, and two, that trying to dodge was the stupidest thing she'd ever done in her life.

The fall was not long, but it was long enough to send her down head first, paws flailing wildly before landing with a thud on the sharp rocks below, all the while giving her enemy time to calmly walk down the sloping paths, and across the rocks towards her.

Cuts, scrapes and bruises covered Sienna's blue-grey pelt, and she winced inwardly at the look of venom in Petal's eyes. Lying here, a groan rising in her throat, Sienna realised that because she'd stepped back, she'd cost herself this battle. There was no way that, in this state, she would be able to beat any cat that could do something that vaguely resembled fighting. She was weak, helpless. And she only knew one way that might get someone off her case.

"Please," she begged. "I have kits. They need me!"

And, for some reason, a look of unimaginable anger flashed into her opponent's eyes. Petal padded towards Sienna, getting closer and closer, until she leaned down and hissed at the bearer,

"That might have worked on my mother; but I am not my mother and I _never _will be."

"Please!" Sienna pleaded. "I'm helpless. I can't fight. And I have a message for you."

"For me...?" Petal trailed off, her eyes widening, her face still not moved an inch.

"Two cats," the elder she-cat whispered. "They came with Storm sunrises ago, and they were scared and frightened. They tried to escape from us; but Star couldn't stand being crossed, and she ordered them to be found, though they returned of their own free will. Their names were Snow and Shell, and they were looking for any silver tabby that came this way...they said it would either be their adoptive mother or their sister. They wanted to tell you to watch out for Thunder because he's not himself any more, and that you needed to rescue them."

"Where are they?" she asked slowly, still remaining unmoved.

"Follow that doorway behind me," the blue she-cat said softly. "Don't take any of the turn-offs, for there is evil that lurks in these tunnels, far worse than any cat that used to live in Broadhinny. There should be no guards there, Petal, and if there are, they are not by Star's appointment. There are other cats that wander these endless caverns, others which are nameless and old as the mountains themselves; or so legend says."

* * *

Her last few words were lost on deaf ears as Petal slowly raised her head, looking in the direction of the dark, smoothly-cut doorway that sat obscurely behind a build-up of rocks. She was walking, at first, and then she was running, and scrambling over the rocks, dashing down the corridor until she slipped over something smooth, and cold - ice? Whatever it was, the substance covered the tunnel, and she walked carefully, peering into the darkness of the ghostly shadows that surrounded her.

There was little sound of inhabitancy in the winding passage; there was the constant _drip-drip-drip _of some liquid falling onto the cold surface beneath her paws, and every once in a while a chill wind blew through the tunnel, buffeting at her fur and causing her to shiver.

Up ahead, she could see light filtering down and a pile of snow beneath the opening. Shafts of weak mountain sunlight lit the tunnel for several foxlengths on either side. She could see, now, that it had been carven out of ice, the stuff that slid so easily under her paws. Shards of rock hung from the ceiling, great, imposing stalactites that choked the narrow space in the tunnel.

The walls were a dark blue-grey, as they were in the cave where she had been held prisoner. They were pitted and rutted, yet they arched smoothly together in some fantastical sculpture, the stalactites decorations that emphasised every curve in the roof. Off to one side, she could see the turn-offs that Sienna had spoken of; surrounding each entrance was a clamminess, perhaps the cause of the murmuring wind she'd heard and felt earlier on. Beyond each entrance, there was impossible darkness, and no light from the opening seeped into the shadows that made up those tunnels.

And, as if an extra warning not to take one of those paths, skeletons of mice and mountain birds littered the ground in front of the entrances, a cold gleam of white in front of the pitch black darkness. Each different path had stalactites, dripping from the roof, almost touching the floor, forming a jagged barrier of frozen stone.

Shuddering, Petal passed them by, stopping once to bathe in the warmth of the light before continuing down the winding path, her eyes never straying from her feet. Once or twice, she thought she heard footsteps behind her, but when she looked back, there was nothing there, just the darkness of the tunnel behind and the tiny spot of light in the distance.

She came to a stop, meeting a dead end. On either side of her there were two paths, and none pointed directly ahead; the blue queen had said it just went on and on, until there was an opening, a cavern. Or had she been fooled?

Then, she heard them: pawsteps. Hurried pawsteps, muttering, and heavy panting. Petal's claws unsheathed automatically, and she jumped back into the shadows of the left doorway, out of sight of the two cats that rushed past - she recognised them as the flighty cats, Kira and Ember. Large, but unable to fight. A smirk flitted over her face; if she needed to, it would be easy to send them running.

They ran through the right turn-off without stopping once, not even to scent the air. They were making it too easy for her.

Keeping to the shadows, Petal followed them lazily, not bothering to mask her presence. Besides, there were only two of them, and they were frightened kittypets, who'd run at a hiss from Leopardpaw. They really _were _scared, and of him, too; that meant it would be easy to send them away with one of her famous glares.

She stopped before stepping into the cavern, hearing voices coming from inside. There was a tired groan, and the sound of yawning, and then a growl - Petal was surprised to find that, as she leaned into the cavern precariously, it came from Ember's mouth, and she was ordering around two cats; one white, one brown, cream and white, but both she-cats. Snow and Shell.

And the thing was, they were obeying the orders of this lost kittypet. Petal, being the cat she was, would never stand for that; and so she stepped fully into the cavern and growled,

"Get out of here. Don't you have better things to do?"

It turned out that Kira and Ember were as hopeless and soft as they looked. As soon as they saw the silver she-cat their eyes widened and they fled out of the cavern quickly, leaving Petal alone with her adoptive sisters.

They weren't weak, she soon digressed from looking at them properly, watching them as they rose to their feet, albeit a little unsteadily, to greet her. For a moment, no-one said a thing, until Petal glared at them.

"Aren't you going to say how _happy _you are to see me? Or how much you've missed me? Or are you go to thank me for saving you?" she asked, annoyed.

"Well, at least I know that you're still you," Shell replied.

"Oh, please," Petal snorted. "Is that the best you can come up with? I'm looking for words of gratitude, appreciation...you know the kind of thing."

"How about, 'I've missed you so much that I almost forgot you existed'?" the brown tabby suggested.

The silver cat tilted her head to one side and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not sure whether that's insulting or worshipful," she mused.

"What do you think of 'there's a battle going on and we need to rescue our mother so could you two _please _stop trying to come up with appropriate greetings and _get out of here_'?" Snow, who had otherwise been silent, growled.

"Fine, fine, fine..." Petal sighed and turned around, and then spun on her heel, eyes wide, "how did you know there was a battle?"

Snow rolled her eyes.

"Kira told us. Now are you going to move or am I going to have to move you myself?" she threatened.

Petal had the instant thought of, _why have I never thought of that? _because she prided herself in knowing good insults and threats, but shook it off and stepped out of the cavern and ran down the path - oblivious to the fact that Shell and Snow were struggling to keep up.

* * *

**Author's Note: I think that was my favourite chapter to write as of yet.**

**Okay, my computer is fixed, so that's why I'm updating now, despite my one arm-ness. It takes time, but you do get used to it eventually. **

**Oh, and I only got two reviews (I think; can't remember exactly) last chapter, so I'm putting it down to two things, and I hope I'm not imaging them 1) some of my reviewers had reviewed to the earlier thing I posted, and then were unable to review again, and 2) everyone wants to be 99th or 100th (I'm hoping) reviewer. So, for that reason, I'm changing it that anyone who reviews this chapter within a week from when it was put up, and the next chapter within a week from when it is put up will have the chance to win the prizes. Hopefully that'll be a better incentive, no?**

**Queen Of The Pens**


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

_Leopardpaw & Petal_

Standing in the middle of the cold mountain wind on the edge of a sheer cliff-face did not make Leopardpaw a very thrilled cat, to put it in the nicest way possible. He was cold and tired and hungry, and really wasn't in the mood to be going rock climbing. Thirst had made his mouth dry and cold, and licking the ice or the snow just froze it further, creating a crust of what seemed like frost on his tongue. Right now, all he wanted was to be back in the warm ThunderClan camp, enjoying the warm days of late newleaf and early greenleaf, his belly full of prey.

"When we get further down," Petal murmured, almost to herself, "it'll be warmer. The thaw will have started, and it will be rocks instead of ice and snow, even though up here, the snow never ends. It's beautiful, the mountain in greenleaf. When all the snow is gone, it's a white-capped, huge rock, breaking away from the ground, and it's amazing, especially when the sun sets and tinges the mountaintop red."

To this, Leopardpaw didn't reply — if he did say something, she'd probably stray away from her gentle thoughts and become fiery and barb-tongued again. He did like that Petal; but sometimes, it was better to see another side of her, and he really couldn't deal with her remarks in his current hungry state.

"I found it!"

That was Ice, Petal's sister, crying out excitedly, and everyone looked up. The silver tabby padded over to her sister and peered down the jagged cliff-face blankly, Leopardpaw trailing behind her like some lost kittypet.

"I'm sorry," the tabby frowned, "but what exactly am I supposed to be seeing?"

"A path," Ice insisted. "A path down the mountainside...can't you see it? The first paw hold is that big ledge just there, see? And the second one —"

"Let's leave it at that," Petal interrupted. "Because I don't really care. So, are we going down now?"

Bramblestar, who had been staring down into the abyss, his amber eyes clouded over with his thoughts, pricked his ears up as the silver she-cat spoke.

"I'll go first," he volunteered, always the leader.

"Don't be silly!" the grey-and-white she-cat exclaimed, looking as if she were about to laugh. "Only Petal, Snow, Shell and I'll be able to get down there, since we're the lightest," she glanced pointedly at Leopardpaw; and, although he was considerably younger, he held a lot more muscle and flesh around his frame. "What we'll have to do is tell them — Blizzard, Eagle and Silver — that you'll be coming down to help them. The only other way down is Fox's Lair," she added quickly, when Whitewing opened her mouth to speak, "it's a very dangerous path to take, because of the foxes that live either side. Silver tried to get up there; she was the cat who found it, but she didn't get very far. The foxes are hungry, mangy scavengers, the vultures of the mountains — they stop at nothing to get the living, but they will settle for the dead. Fighting your way down is the only option, unless you want to get torn to pieces. How about Petal, Silver, Blizzard, Eagle, Snow, Shell and I start at the bottom of the path, and everyone else starts at the top? We could meet each other halfway."

"It's too bottom-heavy," Brackenfur countered. "Maybe just you and Petal go down; that way we have the help of Snow and Shell on our side."

He was too tactful to mention that Snow and Shell were really too weak to be of much use when they were climbing down the mountainside. _Too weak to fight, either, _Leopardpaw observed, _maybe...maybe numbers will help._ The best that Snow and Shell could do together was fend off a fox cub, but he really didn't want to test what they were like when they got angry. He'd already had plenty of that, thanks to Petal.

"Well, let's get started," Bramblestar said briskly, that mistiness still hovering in his eyes, veiling them like a fresh cover of snow. "The sooner we get this over with, the better."

The wind suddenly picked up and a sheet of snow flew over them and into the abyss, as if it were an omen of what was to come. An uneasy silence fell for a matter of heartbeats, until Petal, in a voice that sounded _too _cheerful, _too _forced, meowed,

"Nothing's going to get done if we just stand here."

Only one cat voiced their agreement, but it was enough to jerk them out of their stupor; and, slowly, the cats began to assemble in their designated positions. Leopardpaw watched as the two she-cats heavily padded over to the edge, Petal's eyes widening as she saw the fall below once more, and he wanted to comfort her — but at that point in time, all he felt he could do was watch, to be the onlooker.

And so he stared as Ice's front paw plunged into the abyss' awaiting mouth.

* * *

A reason why she probably should _not _have agreed to follow Ice down the abyss wall: heights.

She hated them. She hated the way that they made her vision spin before her eyes, her breath catch in her throat, her whole body _shake _when she looked down into whatever endless pit she was standing above. But what she hated most about them was the fact that they sent _that _emotion churning through her body — fear.

Fear was weak. And she hated being weak, feeling weakness. It just wasn't _her_.

"This one, Petal..."

"Concentrate."

"_Look_ before you leap, Petal!"

"You're too heavy to go on that one!"

"Really, Petal, what's _wrong _with you?"

Ice seemed to be having way too much fun bombarding her with insults and narky remarks as they climbed in a painstakingly slow manner down the cliff side, the grey-and-white cat wincing at every wrong step that Petal took. At first, she'd let it sweep over her — something she'd never usually do, but her mind was far away, the paws in her daydream set on firm ground — but then, as Ice grew more aggravated, more forced with every word she spoke, Petal liked it less and less.

So, like any sensible cat would, she snapped.

"I think the question you should be asking is, '_what's wrong with _yourself'?" Petal snarled at her sister, pressing against the cliff face.

To this, Ice had no answer, and the rest of the time they spent clambering none too elegantly down the cliff was in a cold, thick silence, full of emotions that could not be expressed into words. For the most part, Petal was rather satisfied; she'd effectively shut her sister up, and she had some time to spend in silence and in thought — but that was _for the most part_.

The only thing she managed to get out of Ice the rest of the way down was the occasional 'this one' or, 'watch your step', all of which were void of any emotion whatsoever, _and _saved Petal from tumbling to her death — which she was annoyed about. She liked to save herself, thank you very much, and nothing would change that.

And then there were these other times when Ice would stare at her for far too long, open her mouth, as if to say something, and then look away again. It got on Petal's nerves, yes, but she was too proud to admit that.

So, when they _did _eventually reach the bottom of the cliff side, and Petal was more than just annoyed with Ice, she thought that her sister was joking at first when the grey-and-white cat finally mewed in a tumble of words,

"Sky died. He fell and he died."

It took Petal a while and much bemused spluttering to believe her. She stood there, a lump of emotion swelling up her throat and threatening to choke her when she finally managed,

"He didn't fall — he was pushed."

_I'll grieve later, _she told herself, _after we've done this. After we've freed my mother and brothers from the abyss. Then, we'll have a proper burial._

Ice visibly flinched at the statement, not even questioning how Petal knew that, and then turned on her heel and began to pad away firmly, her paws kicking up snow behind herself.

Again, silence washed over them and Petal found herself wandering ahead, not going in any particular direction; she followed the curves in the walls, their jutted rigidity, their soaring grandeur, and felt smaller, oppressed, as she shrunk away. One heartbeat, she was walking, and the next, she had stopped in her tracks, facing someone she hadn't seen in moons.

"By StarClan — Petal, is that you?"

She'd imagined her reunion with Eagle before. It would be joyous, happy; in her mind, she'd run towards him, stop in front him, and tell him what a mouse-brain he was for falling into the abyss in the first place. He'd say something — she never really made it up in those moments when she was lost in a world between StarClan and reality — and then he'd take her back to Silver and Ice, and they'd somehow get out of the abyss, if they weren't already out.

Instead, though, it happened rather differently. She was rooted to the spot, her mouth hanging open, useless and gaping, which she shut quickly. She looked away and blinked at the sheer walls of the abyss. Things had changed, she realised; they were no longer the apprentice-age cats, wandering around the mountainside towards their prospective home. He didn't even know if _she _was his sister.

When she found her voice again, what seemed like after an eternity but was actually only a few heartbeats, she made a comment that she might have been proud of if she wasn't at the bottom of an abyss at the time.

"What other cat with a silver pelt and my kind of eyes would even _bother _looking for you?" she snapped. "Of course it's me, you mouse-brain. Who else do you think it'd be?"

He stared at her for a heartbeat, as if mulling over the best thing to say; then, his face split into a huge grin and he bounded toward her, about to say something when Ice's serious voice broke in,

"Eagle, how's Silver?"

Immediately, the grin disappeared from Eagle's face as his eyes focused past Petal. The silver she-cat turned around and met her sister's serious ice-blue gaze, asking one question: _where is she? _A question that Ice chose not to answer.

"No better," Eagle replied with a sigh. "Blizzard's with her now; she's feverish. I just came out here to look for you, Ice," he frowned, "you've been gone an awful long time."

Something close to guilt flashed across Ice's face, but when Petal blinked it was no longer there. _I must have imagined it_ — but even she could not bring herself to believe that. There _had _been guilt in those eyes, perhaps for less than a heartbeat; but now Ice's face had twisted into a faint smile as she told Eagle enthusiastically about how she'd found their father and part of their Clan, and then how they'd got captured and how they'd found Snow and Shell.

The brown tabby tom, so _much _like Bramblestar now that she'd seen him, in everything but the eyes and the light-hearted side to his personality, was listening intently — too intently to notice that Ice shiftily glanced to one side when she talked about finding them. But Petal wasn't, and every time her sis ter stumbled over words or paused, her frown deepened even more.

"And so that's why we're here, now," Ice said, "we thought you might like some help."

"Help is more than needed," Eagle meowed briskly, and he beckoned with his tail for them to follow.

Ice seemed to know the way fairly well, and they were there almost immediately, standing in front of a few hollowed-out caves in the mountain, which turned out to be a winding network, moving their way this way and that, until they stopped near one entrance. _Could these tunnels possibly lead up to Star and her group's caves? Could this be one of the turn-offs in the long tunnel? _Petal mused, her gaze flickering over the similar slate-blue rock. _No, _she said decidedly, _of course it'd be the same kind of rock in here, because it's the same mountain. It's just some different network, completely separate...although..._

"Blizzard...?" Eagle's unsure voice echoed through the caves, carried by the wind that started and finished nowhere. "We've got a new arrival."

A grey tom poked his head around the entrance, doing a double take when he saw Petal, his eyes widening.

"You fall as well?" he asked, bluntly.

"No," she answered, shaking her head profusely, "no, Blizzard — we've come to rescue you. I don't think we have time to explain now," she added, cutting off Ice who had opened her mouth to speak, "we'll tell you later. Right now, we need to focus on getting out of here, and keeping Silver safe in the meantime."

"Someone's got her priorities askew," Blizzard muttered, feigning innocence as she sent a glare his way. "I meant _straight_. Very much _straight_. Don't you find that you get _straight _and _askew _mixed up, Eagle?"

The brown tom's eyes sparkled ight-heartedly, but stopped when Petal rolled her eyes.

"Don't you start, too," she barred her teeth, as if in warning. "I think you seem to be forgetting I've had my fair share of extra prey then you — and I've tried my paw at fighting many more times than you have these past moons."

* * *

Leopardpaw hung back aimlessly from the rest of the cats, feeling a little lost now that Petal wasn't there. He wasn't exactly sure where they were going, but Bramblestar seemed to have a clear enough idea in his head. Ice had vaguely waved at the path down as they passed, but to be honest, he hadn't paid much attention.

The heartbeats seemed to pass slowly, every sound amplified in his ears — from the high-pitched shriek of the wind to the dull chatter of the other's voices, and the monotone of the distant thunder that rumbled away angrily in the sky. There was that faint, acrid tang in the air before a thunderstorm; that of the monsters that roared across the hard, pitted surface of the Thunderpath.

The ominous black clouds that hung in the air, stretching on past the horizon, on into eternity, seemed so unbearably close, so thick and choking, bearing down on him from above. The air itself felt heavy, churning with the anger, the force of the storm, and it was approaching at a fast pace — it would probably hit very soon. _Could it even rain in the mountains?_

His question was answered as a large rumble announced the first of the large, wet raindrops that were few and far between; but as soon as they touched a surface they would send out a splash of tiny raindrops, effectively wetting Leopardpaw within a couple of drops.

He pressed his ears to his head and increased his pace to catch up with the rest of them, coming to a halt beside Bramblestar, who was frowning as he looked up at the sky.

"I'm guessing this isn't good news," Leopardpaw supplied.

"On the contrary," Bramblestar frowned. "I think it actually might be good news after all — I have a feeling that foxes hate rain."

"I don't think everyone else is exactly thrilled," the apprentice argued, although he tried to keep the argumentative tone out of his voice.

The larger tom glanced at him with something close to amusement reflected across his face, and then back at the rest of the cats.

"It is a known fact that cats don't like water, Leopardpaw," he replied, "and it is a known fact that rain dampens the scent. We might have a bigger opening than I foresaw here."

The apprentice was about to speak when a loud yowl echoed out from the abyss, and, between the erratic, now fast-falling raindrops, he made out several tiny shapes, their silhouettes constantly changing in the curtain of water before his eyes. Bramblestar answered the yowl with his own, and the cats on the other side — or what Leopardpaw assumed were cats — began to move at a steady pace up the steep curve of the path. As the static of the thunderstorm crackled in the air, and the wind howled against the sheer, raw power of the storm, the ThunderClan leader's quiet murmur somehow made its way to every cat's ears.

"Charge."

And, the adrenaline of a battle surging through his veins, the golden tabby tom streaked off down the path, ducking under the first russet shape that spilled from the sides of the mountain itself.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm sorry how long a wait it has been. I am one of those people that hates other people for not updating soon enough. But I have been suffering Writer's Block, and it was the holidays, and it is my birthday soon :) I had written about a quarter of this when this morning The Bookish Owl left an amazingly motivational review, and it really encouraged me to write this chapter. Therefore, this chapter is dedicated to The Bookish Owl.**

**There are only a few more chapters left in this. Three...Four...Five...and then I need the prologue too. Well, not _need _but want. And, as much as I love writing stories about cute, cuddly kitties I think I should try something new. This is not positive yet, but I might be writing a PJO fic. And hopefully, if you like PJO, you'll read it.**

**Ahem, and I was going to write something else but I cannot remember what it was for the life of me. So, I'll just go ahead and say thank you to my wonderful reviewers: Moving to Mars, Coqui's Song, WarriorCat99 & The Bookish Owl. Oh, and thank you everybody who has reviewed this story  
-squishes- I have 100 reviews! *dances around***

**Oh yeah, that is what I was going to say, in case you've forgotten — there are still the prizes available for the people that review to this Chapter and 24 & 23. And then I'll pick my winners. Okay, bye :D**

**Queen Of The Pens**


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